Monday, September 29th

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Monday, September 29

Acts 2:42-47
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

A number of years ago I had a very good friend who was serving as a Youth Pastor in a church in Florida. He had been hired to build a ministry that would attract junior and senior high school students and their families from the surrounding community. My friend was a creative and outgoing guy so he threw himself into the task and within a few months was filling the church with teenagers. His approach was to create an environment that kids would enjoy and that meant lots of loud music, lots of noisy and sometimes messy games, and lots of food. His reasoning was simple; if students were having fun and enjoying being at church they would be more open to hearing and responding to God’s word.

But the church had never had a Youth Pastor like him before and the music and the messiness of a dynamic and growing youth ministry made some of the long-time members a bit nervous. Eventually one of the elders in the church took my friend aside and encouraged him to tone down the volume a bit and run a more conventional (and quiet) ministry.

At one point he said, “Son, you won’t find this in the Bible, but God says...” and then finished the sentence with something about loud music not being God’s preferred choice for youth ministry, especially not for youth ministry in his church!

My friend is no longer at that church but that story still makes us laugh. We laugh because it’s a humorous example of how we tend to prefer to create our own truth than to seek God’s truth.

In Acts we find that one of the signs of a healthy church is devotion to truth.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching...

The natural question to ask is, “What teaching is Luke talking about?” What did the Apostles teach?

Well, if we look back just a few verses in Acts 2 we see Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost. When a mocking crowd accused the Apostles of being drunk at 9 in the morning, Peter delivered what amounted to the first sermon in church history. He simply preached what he knew.

What had just happened was the fulfillment of what the prophets had written.

Jesus was sent by God, crucified by sinful men, and raised from the dead as Lord and Christ.

And finally that forgiveness from sin and the Holy Spirit are  received in the name of Jesus Christ.

Peter preached what we know as the Gospel; the good news that salvation is found not in religion, but by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Now, a couple of things about truth.

First; truth, by definition, is exclusive. To say one thing is true is to say another thing is not true. Two plus two cannot equal both four and five at the same time.

Second; truth makes us uncomfortable. Not all truth makes all of us uncomfortable, perhaps, but certainly some truth makes some of us uncomfortable. I can’t imagine who might find “Two plus two equals four” to be offensive, but many, many people find, “Jesus is Lord” to be offensive.

When it comes to mathematics, most of us agree on truth. But when it comes to spiritual matters, many would prefer to create our own truth. If Jesus is truly Lord, then we are all accountable to him and there is no forgiveness or salvation without him. Many would rather believe that salvation is based on good deeds or good intentions rather than the grace of one who died in our place.

But the gospel is either true for everyone or it is true for no one. The early church, and every healthy church since then, was devoted to the truth of the Gospel.


Pastor Brian Coffey