Discover the dynamic relationship the early Christians had with God, marked by their devotion to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. This episode invites you to reflect on the profound impact of the Spirit's presence in our lives, urging a renewed obsession with living out this extraordinary message of grace and truth in today's world.
Hey Family!
If you’ve just tuned in, we are rushing through the book of Acts like a mighty wind–and that’s called foreshadowing. We are in chapter 2. You see, we’re really blowing through it–you see what I did there. Okay. Okay. I can see that you’re not very big fans of puns. He-he-he.
Alright, I’m done. I’m done. I wouldn’t want to blow it.
It’ll just dis-gust people if I keep going.
So be patient, it’ll all blow over soon.
Okay, for real.
Last week we talked about how the Spirit of God fills the hearts of man to be His witnesses. His power is for His purpose. And His purpose is that His followers would carry His message of forgiveness, grace, salvation, and freedom to the ends of the Earth.
Jesus promised this to His disciples. As He left them He said, “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
He said, “you will be my witnesses… But wait for the gift.”
Today, the wait is over.
The Spirit has arrived.
Acts 2 says, “On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly…” (Acts 2:1)
On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place. There was unity of desire and purpose. We talked about Church last week as well. How the Church is not a place you attend or an event you sit through, but it is a people you belong to, a movement you belong to. We are the Church. We are Church. We are the Holy ones of God called out from our professions and pursuits of our individuality and called to assemble in a gathering, or gather in an assembly (whichever you prefer), for a shared purpose–to carry out the family business empowered by the great, great Spirit of Jesus–to be His witnesses.
The Spirit has arrived.
The gift is here. Great purpose and an all-sufficient power.
Power, on display for all to see, in the math-defying events of Pentecost.
I say math-defying. It’s an interesting equation.
I know many of you are probably not that into math, except maybe Tory. That’s why he got into accounting, you know, for the numbers.
There’s an equation that broke the internet a number of years ago. I wonder if you’ve seen it.
Its: 8 ÷ 2(2+2) = ?
Can somebody tell me what the answer is? Or at least what do you think the answer is? 1 - 60% of people will solve it this way.
For about a decade now, mathematicians and mathematics educators have been weighing in on this particular viral debate. It may not be as easy as you would presume.
Here’s a funny group message that ran around the Popular Mechanics staff.
Derek: 8 divided by 8 is 1.
Jeff: PEMDAS. 16.
Pat: ...she writes out PEMDAS and then does PEDMAS
Matt: you clearly didn't listen
Pat: i didn't...i was busy correcting her math.
Morgan: I agree with Derek and disagree with YouTube.
Derek: I trust Morgan because she's had a math class this decade.
Pat: Wikipedia says you hate America if you get 16.
Brad: 42
Tyler: secretly the best answer here…
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this before, (16 - is the correct answer by the way) but there’s a perhaps more interesting equation in this chapter of Acts.
The believers are all together–praying for ten (10) days. The Spirit comes and fills the hearts of all the believers just as Joel prophesied when the Lord spoke through Him,
“I will pour out my Spirit upon all people (on all flesh)... 30 And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth—”
The Spirit comes. Peter gets up and speaks for ten (10) minutes and three thousand (3,000) people get saved.
The disciples pray for 10 days, Peter speaks for 10 minutes, and 3,000 surrender their lives to Jesus and are baptized.
That’s one heck of an equation.
This math still happens today, the very same equation, we just get the units mixed up. Instead, today, we pray for ten (10) minutes, have our pastors speak for ten (10) days, and we might see three (3) people baptized. It’s the same equation we just get the units and the zeros mixed up. And we’re left wondering, can this really still happen today?
How did we get here? What was the cause?
Where did that energy come from?
Kenneth Scott Latourette, a professor at Yale said: “The more one examines the various factors which seem to account for the extraordinary victory of Christianity, the more one is driven to search for a cause underlying them all. It is clear that at the very beginning of Christianity there must have occurred a vast release of energy virtually unequalled in history… Nothing else could explain the surge of the early Christian movement. What caused this release of energy…lies outside the realm in which modern historians are supposed to move. But before I am a historian, I am human… How can I close my eyes to the obvious explanation that something supernatural happened?”
At the beginning of Christianity there must have been a vast release of energy unparalleled in human history.
This is how Acts says it, “2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.”
This is the singularity. And yet somehow, our English terminology just doesn’t do it justice. The words windstorm and a mighty wind, don’t capture the spectacle.
It doesn’t seem like we are supposed to see this as a mere breeze that pushes back the curtains or even a wind rushing through the valley as we’ve heard the last few days. This tempest got people’s attention. It made a sound that collected an audience.
We are more likely meant to understand this as a tornado. As the hurricane winds that brought down trees on every mountain in the High Country. It was a frightening event.
When the Spirit comes in the Bible, it tends to come in terrifying display. It comes in tornadoes of fire and a mountain of flames. Of gale and squall and unapproachable presence.
Hebrews 12 describes it as, “18 …a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites [came to] at Mount Sinai. 19 For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20 They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
It was terrifying.
You couldn’t approach it.
You couldn’t touch it.
And now, in a strange twist of fate, it is on the head of every believer.
Have you ever stopped to think about this? That the Spirit of God lives in you? This is a God the Israelites couldn’t approach because His presence would kill them. And now, the Holy Spirit of God has fused himself with your soul.
Anyone who avoids the reality that God isn’t absolutely terrifying is just deluding themselves from the truth presented to us in Scripture. When Jesus shows up on the scene people are always more afraid of Him than of anything else. When He casts out the legion of demons into the herd of pigs in the land of the Gerasene. The people come out and beg Him to leave. They beg Him to depart because they were so afraid.
The fire of the Lord comes down to be with His people. Only it doesn’t fall into a building, onto a tent, or in a Temple. It lands on the disciples.
Is Christianity for you primarily a set of beliefs you adhere to and a lifestyle you conform to or is it a dynamic relationship with a living God that lives inside you? The Spirit’s power in you which you live in, move in, walk in, speak under… Do you live under His authority? Are you fellowshiping with the present risenness of Christ with you, here and now? Jesus in you?
This is the cause, the singularity, the vast release of energy that birthed Christianity.
What Rich Mullins described as the “the reckless raging fury that they call the love of God.”
This is the uncaused cause, as they say.
The effect–an empowered witness.
The Spirit’s power is for His witness.
Peter’s message isn’t overly complex. Although, I should admit that it wasn’t really just ten (10) minutes. “40 Peter continued preaching for a long time…” In some ways, I suppose, it’s a message that never stopped as it continued to find its home in receptive hearts.
But it wasn’t a message designed for entertainment, it was simply the truth we all need illuminated from the Old Testament and centered around the person of Jesus and the saving power of His resurrection. Jesus is alive. He is here. He is for you.
“The Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 26 No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. 27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. 28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.”
36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
And the people were cut to the heart.
Tim Keller talks about how there are two key concepts that deeply resonate with people; the understanding of our own deep sinfulness and the simultaneous experience of being deeply loved by God despite that sin.
Those who were listening discovered they were wrong about Jesus. They had misjudged Him. They were guilty before the God Who created the universe. These two things drew people to Jesus, and they draw us as well.
We are more sinful than we can ever imagine.
But also more loved than we could ever hope for.
God's powerful saving presence will always astonish us. It will change our ideas of who we are. It will challenge our current understanding of Him. And it will endear us to His ways.
Cause. Effect. And what’s the result.
Devotion. Dare I say obsession.
Sounds like a perfume made by Dolce and Gabbana. Nope, I was wrong. It’s Calvin Klein.
It’s not just the confession of these new believers, but the quality of their conviction.
There’s a song I remember from back in the day, written by Delirious?. I used to listen to a version by Jesus Culture. The main Verse asks: “What can I do with my obsession? With the things I cannot see?” And it resounds with a powerful confession for the chorus… “My heart burns for You [Jesus].”
The outpouring of the Spirit didn’t just end with an altar call answered by thousands. It continued to burn in the hearts of these believers and resulted in this devotion. This fire within. These four obsessions.
“42 All the believers devoted themselves to these… “To the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to the breaking, and to prayer.”
They didn’t have to be reminded to do these things. They were devoted to them. They were obsessed. It was as autonomic as breathing. You don’t have to be reminded to breathe. You don’t need an accountability partner to ask you, “Did you remember to breathe today?”
No, these obsessions defined them.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.
They devoured what was taught. They couldn’t get enough of it.
How else do you explain Paul preaching for so long that a young man fell out of a window. They were there for it. They were waiting and expectant to hear a word from the Lord. They were obsessed with it.
That’s what makes what we do here together on Sunday mornings so important. We come expecting to meet with God. To receive words from Him.
We come as lifelong learners ready to sit at the feet of Jesus and be taught by His word.
And if you’re thinking, yeah I don’t have to come here to do that. I can sit at my home under some blankets. I can turn on a podcast. I can open my Bible with a cup of coffee and take pictures of my feet with an open Bible and post it on Instagram #blessed.
That’s not Church. Church is not a private experience. It’s a movement of God’s people–together.
“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…”
They gathered. They assembled. They belonged.
If you’re not devoted to the teaching, if there’s not an anticipation in you when we come together to meet God, if there's not an obsession for how God is going to speak in this time together it’s not a Church problem.
If you’re showing up here each week bored to tears, it’s not a Church problem, it’s a you problem, it’s a spirit in you problem–not a Church problem.
Here’s some questions to ask yourself to gauge your devotion… Are you bringing a Bible? Do you have some way to take notes? Are you anticipating a movement of God in what we do here together? Or ar you just trying to get in and get out? Does your posture communicate that nothing is going to speak to you enough to meditate on throughout the week?
People who get serious about God become learners. They devote themselves to His teaching.
They devoted themselves to fellowship.
This is about more than just togetherness. It’s not a mere solution to loneliness. Loneliness drives people into one place, but that doesn’t mean that they are together, not really.
They shared themselves with each other. 44 [They] all met together in one place and shared everything they had.”
They were devoted to each other. They gave themselves away.
It’s when you give yourself away that you start becoming like Jesus.
It’s investing in people’s lives and opening your life up for them to invest in yours. It’s reaching across cultural barriers to get to know people who are not like you. It’s not just about making time for others when it’s convenient for your schedule. It’s about risking being inconvenienced for the sake of your brother and sister in Christ.
Jesus’ greatest miracles await us on the other side of inconvenience. “The opportunity to bring Heaven to Earth comes at the most inconvenient, unplanned, and unprepared times.”
But you make time for what you love–for what you are obsessed with.
You make time for what you love. You do what you want–is another way I’ve said it before. I love the sauna. So, if a friend of mine invites me to sauna, I’m going to make it work. I’m going to be there.
They were devoted to being there. They were carers. They cared so deeply for one another.
Here’s a gauge for your devotion to fellowship, are you open to being inconvenienced, or do you only commit when it fits your availability? Do you live open to give? Or is your oft repeated response, “I don’t have time for that?”
And you know what, that might even be true. But you make time for what you love. And if that’s an overbearing reality for you, then perhaps the schedule needs to shift.
Do you wonder what the value is? Do you judge by what you can get out of it?
It’s not about what you can get out of it. You don’t participate in your family based on what you’re getting out of it. The Church is a family, the family, it is a people you belong to. Whom you give yourself to. Whom you share yourself with.
You can’t give yourself to people if you’re not around people. And the bad news is, if it doesn’t exhaust you then you may not be giving of yourself enough. Being family is exhausting. That’s why there’s no people you get more frustrated with than family. Because they’re always there. Praise God?
The Church is a family you belong to.
You can’t be a disciple of Jesus and be disconnected from the Church. You can’t love Jesus and hate his bride. If you have more complaints about the Church than compliments then you’re not devoted.
They devoted themselves to fellowship.
They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread.
What we're talking about here is not just eating together. Although I’m pretty sure a whole lot of us would love God to tell us to be obsessed with eating. That would come as a welcome commandment to me. When we go on vacation, we plan our trips around where we’re going to eat.
What we are talking about is being worshippers. We are talking about being obsessed with the presence of Christ–the present risenness of Christ.
They were devoted to communing with the risen Lord. It was God’s presence they were after. The one about whom Augustine said, “is more intimate with me than I am with myself.”
“The miracle of the gospel is Christ, risen and glorified, who this very moment tracks us, pursues us, abides in us, and offers Himself to us as companion for the journey!” (Manning, Abba’s Child)
This is the daily reality of the believer.
You don’t come here dry and in need. You come here watered and well-fed, filled up, ready to share from the wealth of what Jesus’ present risenness, His companionship, has poured into you.
And if we truly want to commune with Jesus, we must devote ourselves to prayer.
It’s been said that the vitality of the Church was a measure of the reality of their prayers.
Prayer is radical dependency upon the Holy spirit. It’s about submitting to absolute dependence on the Spirit of God. That’s its purpose–the purpose and the power of prayer.
They were devoted to it, they were obsessed with it–a radical dependency on the Holy Spirit demonstrated by their prayer and fasting.
Brennan Manning shares in his book, Abba’s Child, the story of an old man dying from cancer. “The old man’s daughter had asked the local priest to come and pray with her father. When the priest arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows and an empty chair beside his bed.”
After some confusion over the empty chair and the priest’s arrival the old man relates this story. “All my life, I’ve never known how to pray. At the Sunday Mass, I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it always went right over my head. Finally, I said to him one day, I get nothing out of your homilies on prayer.”
The pastor reached into his desk and gave a book by Hans Urs von Balthasar. If the author’s name reveals anything of the book’s contents. The man said, “I tried to read it, but in the first three pages I had to look up twelve words…”
“I abandoned any attempt at prayer, until one day about four years ago my best friend said to me, ‘Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here’s what I suggest. Sit down on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It’s not spooky because He promised, ‘I’ll be with you all days.’ Then just speak to Him and listen in the same way you’re doing with me right now.’”
Two nights after the priest’s visit the old man passed away and his daughter recalls him doing something very strange. Just before he died, he leaned over and rested his head on, what by all outward appearance, was an empty chair beside his bed.
The war for our souls is fought on our knees.
It’s an obsession of relationship with the unseen. It is the expulsive power of a new affection that takes its root deep in our hearts and forces all other loves aside.
That’s what makes today so difficult.
The application is not to make a list of these four obsessions and the identities they create in the life of a believer and then to go and do them. It’s not a doing problem it’s a gospel and spirit problem. It must start within us and overflow into obsession.
There’s not a sense of desperation, a sense of obsession in our hearts.
“Thomas Chalmers poses for himself the question: How shall the human heart be freed from its love for the world? This “love” is not a duty one performs. It is a delight one prefers. It is an affection before it is a commitment.
He says there are two ways one might seek to remove this controlling affection from the heart. One is to show that the world is not worthy of our affection and will let us down in the end. (Not very effective)
The other is to show that God is vastly more worthy of the heart’s attachment, thus awakening a new and stronger affection that displaces the former affection…”
Where do your affections lie? What are you devoted to?
We are all devoted to something.
Often the problem is that we are too devoted to ourselves.
We don’t have commitment issues, we’re just committed to the wrong things.
Are we obsessed with these devotions of the early Church? Why not?
What’s holding back our passion–our obsession? What can I do with my obsession?
God has not abandoned his Church, if He sent His spirit before, He can do it again.
We need only ask…
Resources (*the views expressed within the following content are solely the author's and may not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Mountainside Church):
Summit Church - Sent: Acts Series
Crazy Grace Talk - The reckless raging fury
The Gospel Coalition - Preaching that cuts to the heart
The other side of inconvenience
Abba's Child - Brennan Manning
Church and Gospel - Communing with Jesus this year
Desiring God - The expulsive power of a new affection
Popular Mechanics - Viral math problem solved
SFU - The simple reason a viral math equation stumped the internet
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