February 3, 2002

Acts 2:42-47

How to Love and Accept Each Other Biblically

1. Introduction

1. Illustration – From Homiletics online - An old story tells of a farmer who was an incurable, inveterate grumbler. One fall, he had the best apple crop for miles around. One of his neighbors stopped by to congratulate him: "Well, Hiram, you sure ought to be happy now. This is the finest crop of apples ever raised in this county." The grumbler growled: "Well, I s'pose they'll do -- but where's the rotten ones for the hogs?"
2. Context – Have you ever noticed that some folks just can’t accept anything good, so they feel like they have to criticize it? The early believers in Acts 2 had plenty to complain about, but they chose to look at life from another perspective. Let’s read Acts 2:42-47 to see how they approached life.

1. Scripture Passage

1. Acts 2:42-47 – They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

1. Five Principles of Biblical Relating

1. In these five verses we find five principles of how to relate to each other biblically – in other words, how loving and accepting each other is lived out in daily life, which is what the early believers did. So we’re going to take a look at those principles and how to apply them to ourselves in a way that brings glory to God.
2. The first principle is found in verse 42 – They devoted themselves. The believers didn’t just take a casual interest in four basic areas of discipleship. Those four areas are learning, fellowshipping with other believers, celebrating Communion, and prayer. Learning to love and accept each other takes time and effort. If you want to learn to love and accept another person, you have to devote yourself to learning more and more to be like Jesus, to spending time with other believers, to celebrating Christ’s gift of Himself for you, and praying. Most Christians do moderately well in spending at least some time each week either in Bible study or in a class that helps them learn what it takes to be a Christian. And most Christians do moderately well in spending time with other believers, at least once a week at church if nothing else. Most have an appropriate attitude toward the celebration of Communion and reflecting on Christ’s gift of His body and blood. But the area we fall down most in is prayer. E.M. Bounds, in Purpose in Prayer, wrote, Prayer is the mightiest agent to advance God’s work. Praying hearts and hands only can do God’s work. Prayer succeeds when all else fails. Prayer has won great victories, and rescued, with notable triumph, God’s saints when every other hope was gone. Men who know how to pray are the greatest boon God can give to earth—they are the richest gift earth can offer heaven. Men who know how to use this weapon of prayer are God’s best soldiers. His mightiest leaders. Christians who are serious about devoting themselves to Christ will spend quality and quantity time each week in Bible study and learning, in fellowshipping with other believers, in reflecting on Christ’s gift of His body and blood for us, and in committed prayer. These four disciplines are critical if we are going to learn to love and accept each other as God loves and accepts each one of us!
3. The second principle is found in verse forty-three – Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. No, we don’t have to become Benny Hinn clones! Notice the attitude of the believers. They were filled with awe, a sense of holy expectation that God was going to move in their midst. And it’s no coincidence that God did move among them. The believers had a solid idea of who God was and what He had done for them. If you’ve been a believer for any length of time, you tend to lose a little bit of that healthy respect. Remember that saying – familiarity breeds contempt. We don’t set out to become that way, but unless we guard ourselves against that kind of attitude constantly, it happens. We start out being a bit unsure what exactly is the right way to approach the God of the universe. Then, as we become a little more comfortable in our relationship with Him, we start to treat Him more like a buddy and less like God. Pretty soon we start demanding what we want from Him, labeling it "claiming His promises." The problem is that we haven’t worked at developing our relationship with Him enough to keep our attitudes respectful. We have forgotten who God is. Not so in Acts. Those early believers knew who God was, they were keenly aware of what He had done for them in sacrificing His Son for their sins, and they believed that He wanted to profoundly impact their lives. When we expect God to move among us, our prayers change, our attitudes change, our hearts change. Devoting ourselves to the four disciplines of the first principle will help enable us to cultivate that holy expectation that God is moving among us. That expectation will help us to love and accept one another biblically.
4. Third, the believers were God-centered and other-centered rather than self-centered. They had no problem ditching their money and their stuff to help those in need. If you notice in verse forty-five, they gave to anyone as he had need. The needy folks didn’t have to belong to a special club or have a special relationship with the apostles. If someone had a need, they met it. Conquering our me-first mentality is critical if we are going to love and accept each other as God loves and accepts us. One crucial point – acceptance of a person does not necessarily mean condoning what they do. In other words, just because we accept someone and seek to help them doesn’t mean we condone any sinful habits or lifestyles they are involved in. Just the opposite is often true – because we don’t accept their sin we don’t accept them. That is not the Biblical model. Jesus regularly ate and spent time with the worst sinners of Jewish society. He didn’t accept their lifestyles, He accepted them and sought to love them into the kingdom. The Bible does say that there are disciplinary procedures to take against believers who refuse to leave sin behind, but they are to be taken in the context of love. According to what Jesus taught and did and what the early believers did, meeting needs is a way of expressing love and acceptance of others and putting them first. Forsaking our me-first attitudes is made possible by cultivating a holy expectation of God among us, which comes by devoting ourselves to cultivating our relationship with Christ through the four disciplines.
5. Fourth, the early believers united together regularly to worship God in a public place. You can’t be a Christian privately – regular, faithful participation of your church’s worship services is mandatory. Verse forty-six describes the meeting habits of the first mega-church. Imagine, over three thousand believers praising God and learning more about Jesus in a corner of the Temple Mount. What an awesome witness that had to be! Can you imagine being a Jew, approaching the temple to offer your sacrifice, and hearing three thousand voices lifted in praise to God. Something unusual is going on, and you go over to check it out. Sure, the temple guards are there watching, but they aren’t doing anything so it must be okay. As you draw near, you hear someone stand up and begin to proclaim the truth about Jesus the Messiah. As you listen, you sense the presence of God among them. The Holy Spirit begins to speak to your heart and you find yourself on your face before God confessing your faith in Jesus. When we truly give ourselves over to worshiping God, to acknowledge before Him His incredible worth, even those without a personal relationship with Jesus sense it. And it is a powerful witness to them. We are called to worship publicly as an expression of our gratitude to God and as a witness to His great love for us. And as we worship God together over a period of time, He builds us together in spirit so that we become more and more loving and accepting of each other. Just as the early believers regularly worship together as an expression of their love for God and for each other, we’ve got to make worshiping together regularly a priority in our lives.
6. Fifth, the early believers had an attitude of thankfulness and praise. Verses forty-six and seven say that they had "glad and sincere hearts" and that they praised God. They knew the Source of their life. They also knew that they had much to be grateful for. They were grateful to God for His wonderful grace, and they were grateful to God for each other because of the strength and encouragement they drew from each other. The attitude of their hearts was right before God. We struggle with our attitudes, and we struggle with our attitudes because we struggle with our relationship with Jesus. We can spend all the time in world devoting ourselves to Bible study and to learning, to fellowshipping with other believers, to reflecting on Christ’s gift of His body and blood for us, and to committed prayer. We can spend all the time in the world expectantly waiting for God’s presence. We can spend all the time in the world trying to be God-centered and other-centered. We can spend all the time in the world worshiping publicly. But if the attitudes of our hearts are not right before God, it’s all worthless. Why do we think we can have a good, solid, loving relationship with someone we’ve got a bad attitude toward? That doesn’t even make sense! But we try it all the time with God. He hasn’t done what we wanted Him to, so we’re not grateful for what He has done. And then when He comes through for us, we forget to thank and praise Him for helping us in our hour of need! I think we need our heads examined! God has given us all of Himself through His Son Jesus Christ, and we complain when we don’t get our own way! Bottom line – when we work to cultivate an attitude of gratitude toward God in our hearts, even when life seems like it can’t get any worse, all of the other things we’ve talked about today will begin to fall into place. God can work in and through grateful hearts. He wants to use our grateful hearts to draw us into an intimate relationship with Him. He wants to use the time we spend devoted to Him to develop that relationship with Him. He wants to use the time we spend expectantly waiting for Him to develop that relationship with Him. He wants to use the time we spend focusing on being God-centered and other-centered to develop that relationship with Him. He wants to us the time we worship together to develop that relationship with Him. He wants our attitude toward Him to be right so He can develop our relationship with Him. The early believers didn’t follow a secret formula – they simply understood that sportin’ a ‘tude paled in comparison with relationship with God. Could it be that we need an attitude check?
7. Illustration - Rev. Martin E. Pike, Jr. told this story in a sermon (related on Homiletics online- Three minutes had elapsed since I had taken my seat at the counter. Waitresses passed me by; two cooks and a busboy took no notice of my presence. My ego was soothed only because the truck driver seated next to me was ignored as well. "Maybe this counter is off-limits," I said to him. "Maybe they are short of help," he responded. "Maybe they don't want our business," I said. "Maybe they are taking care of those at the tables," was his reply. The hands on the clock continued to move. "Maybe they don't like us," I insisted. "The air conditioning feels so good I don't mind waiting," he said. At this point, a harried waitress stopped to tell us that the water had been cut off and the dishwasher was not functioning. My nameless compatriot smiled, thanked the waitress and left. I did not like him. Three times I had sought his support for my obnoxious attitude, but he had let me down. Only later did I realize that he had chosen to practice what I preach. Right attitude helps right relationship, and it’s about time we got our attitudes toward God and each other right.

1. What Happens When We Love and Accept Each Other Biblically

1. The impact when we love and accept each other biblically falls not only on us. True, our lives will be transformed and our church will be a place where we deeply and intimately know each other and our God. The atmosphere anytime we gather together will be incredible when we love and accept each other biblically. Our church will be a hospital for people who are dying inside where they can feel safe to share their pain with those around them. Yes, our life as a community of believers will be transformed when we love and accept each other biblically. But that won’t be the only impact.
2. Imagine the impact on our communities when we leave this place after finding peace and joy and healing in this church. Don’t you believe that those we come in contact with each day will see something different in us? If you don’t, you’d better believe it. An atmosphere of biblical community like this would stand in such sharp contrast with the world around us that we would shine like a light, drawing in the hurting people around us like moths to a flame. And unlike the flame, real transformation will take place in the hearts of these folks as they experience God’s love like they never have before. They will come into personal relationship with Jesus Christ and receive healing and begin to share that with their friends and family. One person at a time our community will be transformed by the love and grace of Jesus as it is lived out in our lives. That’s what my heart longs for. Is it what your heart longs for too? One person can make a difference and begin the transformation. You can be that person.
3. Illustration – Matt Friedemann, in The Clarion-Ledger, wrote, Several months ago I was on a TV show to discuss with other panel members recent problems plaguing the Jackson, Mississippi, community. The city council was in disarray because the council president and another councilman were headed off to jail. The council president was caught making shady deals with a strip club in relation to a re-zoning ordinance. The panel moderator looked at me and asked, "Matt, whose fault is all of this?" Suddenly, I became agitated. I prepared to tell her in dramatic on-air fashion that we are a nation of laws and that the council president trampled on those laws. If we were looking to place blame, there was only one place to put it – smack dab in his lap as he sat in his well-deserved jail cell. That is what I was going to say, but I never got the words out. One of the panelists sitting next to me was a gentleman named John Perkins – author, teacher, community developer, and national evangelical leader. Before I could respond, Perkins answered, "It’s my fault." All heads turned his way. He elaborated. "I have lived in this community for decades as a Bible teacher. I should have been able to create an environment where what our council president did would have been unthinkable because of my efforts. You want someone to blame? I’ll take the blame. All of it. God isn’t looking to place blame, but He is looking for each one of us to stand up, take responsibility for the failure of the churches in our community to make more of an impact for Christ, ask for forgiveness, and move forward to change our world with Him. You want to transform our world for Jesus? Begin to live in biblical community, loving and accepting each other as God loves and accepts us. I can guarantee you this: that kind of atmosphere will allow God to transform us, and we will begin to be agents of transformation in our world. It’s all up to each and every one of us.

1. Conclusion

1. The question of the day is this: which one of us is going to allow God to enable us to love and accept others biblically? Who in this sanctuary is going to begin to make a difference today? What are we going to do about the challenge God is issuing to our church?
2. If God is moving on your heart to love and accept others just as the believers did in Acts 2, now is the time to take action. Come forward and pray as God leads you.