God's Grace-Community: Gathered for a Person, a Message, and a Mission

Acts 20:17ff.

"17Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18And when they came to him, he said to them:
"You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. 32And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
36And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship."

2. What is the Church for?
a. Social Life?
b. So we have a place to give our money?
c. So that men with big ego’s can share their opinions for a couple of hours each week?
d. Organization?
3. What is the “Church”?
a. The word actually means “assembly.”
i. But not just any assembly!
ii. We, the Church, are God's Empowered Grace-Community gathered for: a Person, a Message, and a Mission.
iii. We’ll go through the three parts before unpacking the phrase “God's Empowered Grace-Community.”
b. The idea of the assembly of believers is not a new idea found only in the New Testament. The Old Testament also spoke of the congregation or the assembly.
c. What brought the people of the Old Testament together as an assembly is that they were called by God to be His People.
d. This idea carries over into the New Testament, but it is much fuller.
i. That’s why there is no drawn out teaching about what the church is in the NT
ii. Israel was the church of the Old Testament.
iii. In the New Testament, we are not primarily made up of one ethnic group. We are diverse. We are called from every nation and tribe and language!
iv. We are called to be Jesus’ body as local expressions of God’s world-wide work.
1. Epistles were letter written to the church at _____. (i.e., Sardis, Ephesus, etc.)
4. God's Empowered Grace-Community gathered for a Person
a. The Church exists because of the work of Jesus!
i. Ephesians says that Jesus tore down the wall of separation between races and cultures and purchased a people from all people groups
ii. Jesus has earned the righteousness we needed to be in God’s presence.
iii. Jesus bore the wrath of God in our place so that we could enjoy His presence and fellowship
iv. The church gathers as a celebration of Jesus!
1. Our preaching ought to be full of Jesus.
2. Our singing ought to be full of praise to Jesus!
v. When we come together it is because of Jesus and through Jesus that we are in the presence of God.
1. The Old Testament was full of blood and the overwhelming absence of blood in the New Testament is a testimony to the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
b. Ephesians 1:22 “And He put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
5. God's Empowered Grace-Community gathered for a Person and a Message
a. Ephesians 1:13-14 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
b. It was hearing and believing the message of the Gospel which added us to the assembly.
c. It is the Gospel which sustains true faith.
i. Paul’s letter to the Galatian church is proof enough of this. He confronted them in very clear language for mixing works of the law with faith and thinking that that’s what it took to be acceptable to God.
d. It is the Gospel we are to guard and preach!
i. Paul charged Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:13,14 “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”
6. God's Empowered Grace-Community gathered for a Person, a Message, and a Mission
a. We cannot understand what the Bible means by church by reflecting only on our identity. That is introverted. But the complete idea comes when we understand who we are and what we are to do. That is we have to understand the extroverted aspect of the church as well.
b. Matt. 28:18-20 Great commission
i. “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
ii. Make Disciples by
1. Making disciples
a. is different from making decisions
b. Is different from altar calls
c. Making disciples is essentially making copy-cats!
i. Paul- Imitate me as I imitate Jesus
d. Disciple making requires a lot of one-on-one life time.
e. “make disciples of all nations”
i. Multi-ethnic discipleship.
ii. Where are they?
f. This is not only the job of the Pastors.
i. Eph. 4:11-12 says “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, . . .”
g. This is not a numbers game- whoever has the most votes wins
2. Baptizing
a. Baptism doesn’t earn salvation.
b. Baptism is God’s way of marking out those who He has called to be His own.
c. In Baptism, the work of the Triune God is pictured, which is why a person is baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the person being baptized is passive.
3. Teaching
a. The Church is to teach disciples to do all that Christ commanded.
b. The Church is to teach doctrine which builds up our faith and renews our minds.
7. We are a Grace-Community
a. We are a community- an assembly of Jesus worshipers who share this new life together. It is grace which birthed us into this family and it is God’s grace which must characterize our relationships within this family.
i. Ephesians 4:32-5:1 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”
ii. John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
b. A quick survey of the “one-anothering” passages in the NT shows that God has made us to live as an organism, interdependent upon one-another. There are so many “one-anothering” commands in the NT that if you are isolated from the Church, you cannot possibly obey those commands!
c. This community of people owned by the grace of God and a passion for Jesus are called the “household of God.”(Eph. 2:19)
i. As the “household of God”, our life together is vastly different than anything the world can produce, because only the grace of God can cause a naturally selfish person to give up what is important to me so that another person is helped.
ii. As the “household of God” and as the “body of Christ”, every member has a task to do and the church’s mission can only be accomplished if all are doing their part.
1. Eph. 4 is talking about how when Jesus was raised from the dead, it was for glorification and as he was receiving his reward, he showered gifts on the church. On the whole church. (Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12 also)
2. Ephesians 4:15,16 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, in to Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
8. We are an Empowered Grace-Community
a. In John 14:15-17 Jesus told his disciples “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
i. The disciples were shocked to hear that Jesus had to die and then ascend to Heaven, because that meant that He would no longer be with them like he had been.
ii. They were ready to mourn the loss of their greatest friend, when Jesus promised His Father would send “another Helper.”
1. a helper just like Jesus
2. When the disciples were in the presence of Jesus, they didn’t have to wonder about where their next meal was coming from.
3. When the disciples were with Jesus, they had confidence that anything He asked them to do, they could do. (i.e. walk on water)
a. Illus, Emma walking down the large steps holding my hand
4. The way that Jesus helped and comforted his precious group of disciples, the Holy Spirit does so with each and every child of God.
b. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 24:49 “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
c. Jesus had already given them the Mission instructions, but instruction isn’t all we need.
i. We need power!
d. This was fulfilled at Pentacost.
e. The Holy Spirit has never left. He is still helping, comforting, and teaching His children just like Jesus did.
f. Notice the change in the disciples from before Pentacost and after.
i. After Jesus was buried, but before Pentacost, the disciples locked themselves in a room. They were afraid that they would be found out.
ii. After Pentacost, in Acts 3, Peter and John were walking boldly in the streets and a man who was lame asked them for some money. Peter told him to look at him and John and said, I don’t have any silver or gold, but what I do have, I give to you freely. “Get up and walk!” The man went away dancing!
g. The Power Helper is with us.
i. Yes, the mission is great and difficult!
ii. Yes, it takes boldness to guard and proclaim the Gospel!
iii. Yes, I have to deny myself in order to live at peace with you fellow believers!
iv. Yes, there are millions sick and suffering!
v. But the Power Helper is here!

Church, the Risen Christ has given clear instructions and sent the power to accomplish it. Go. . . Make disciples… baptize them and teach them all that Jesus commanded.