New Church

Study Notes

What is the correct way to fold a towel?  This was one of the first “conflicts” that I faced once I was married.  I grew up learning that the “proper” way to fold and hang a bath towel was to fold it 3 times.  My spouse grew up folding the towel 2 times.  For 25 years I had folded the towel a certain way and the right way it was to be done was second nature to me. The towel, the rack, and Jeff Mattesich had a routine!   And then suddenly, I get married and a new way of folding the towel emerged into my life.  And, although we had agreed to go with :her way” of folding bath towels, it took me a long time to adapt to the new way of folding towels… and we just celebrated our 17^th wedding anniversary – I can tell you that I think I have figured it out – and the evidence might be in our children – who seem to have even a newer way to fold the towel, by just throwing it on the floor!

The point here is that when we are used to a certain way that things are done we can have a hard time adapting to new information and a new reality.

Before we read Acts 2 today, I want us to understand this context.  The people of God have had a very particular way of worshiping God unto this point.  There was a certain way that people gathered to have relationship with God – and what we will see is that in Acts 2, God doing a new thing and beginning a new reality for worship and relationship.  For church folks, we know this story, if you are new to the Scriptures, get ready for a ride – this is a thrilling and gripping text!

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word found in Acts 2:1-13

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

This is the Word of God.  You may be seated.

We will get into the text in a moment, but I want to give the sermon away in the beginning.  The headline is what we have titled the sermon, this is the story of the New Church.  In fact, this is the story of “the” Church.  But what is NEW, is the way in which people worship and connect to God.  If for the first part of human history the “towel” was folded a certain way – this is the moment, the actual history, the story of how a new way is launched.  But we do not live in the ld Testament, that way of doing things is far from our experience… so let me briefly help us with some context of the “former way” of how God and his people interacted.  There are 3 statements that help capture this.

1. Old Testament: There are a chosen people. God chose one nation, one particular people group set apart from the all other nations and people groups to be his special people.  That chosen group is Israel.  His purpose for choosing them was to demonstrate to the rest of the world who he is as God and how he has relationship with his people. It would be through them that the rest of the world can know whop God is and what his ways are.

2. Old Testament: There are chosen individuals. This is a general statement as there are exceptions, but the Old Testament is filled with stories of certain individuals that God uses in very specific and personal ways. Moses, Jacob, David, Ruth, Jeremiah, and it goes on and on.  We can see that God often calls an individual for a particular task at a particular time to advance his name and the Biblical story.

3. Old Testament: There is a physical space for worship. The Temple.  There are very specific instructions for both how the Temple was to be made and how worship was conducted.  It was actually quite complicated, and I was tempted to do what I once did as a high a school pastor when we had students sit according to ethnicity, gender, and age on morning.  The Temple was the place where heaven and earth met and God’s presence dwelled and was to be worshipped and accessed by his people.  We could do a whole morning on the temple, but in for today – what I want us to see is that there was a particular physical space where God dwelled and was worshipped in the Old Testament.

There was one people/nation

God used individuals

God had a Temple

With this in mind, let’s get back to Acts 2 and see how within this context how radical this NEW CHURCH actually is!

There are 3 observations that the text can teach us today, first:

1. Observe: the posture of prayer (2:1)

Let’s look back to Chapter 1 for a moment, starting in verse 12

¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. ¹³ When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Now, in verse 2 we see that they are still together in that place, and it is safe to conclude that they were still doing what they had been doing since Chapter 1 – joining tgetehr in constant prayer.

The posture of the apostles and all gathers (the women and Mary too) was one of prayer.  They had been with Jesus, learned from Jesus, and the call on them was to wait – and as they waiting they prayed together… in a room… not the Temple – more on that later.

So, in this posture of collective prayer we can observe the next movement in the text:

2. Observe: the “sudden” power of God (2:2-4)

² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

• The scene is crazy!
  • Violent blowing wind
  • Tongues of fire that sperate and rest on them
  • Filling of the Holy Spirit
  • Speaking in languages – new, not ones they had studied.

• The part I want us to see is the word SUDDENLY.
  • The Spirit comes when he wants
  • The Spirit doesn’t work on our timelines
  • The Spirit can be anticipated but when a where are not within our ability.

Remember Jesus in chapter 1: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;

This is important and a distinctive of Christianity – God will move and do as God does. He is not an equation to master or a formula to appease.

We have a God of SUDDENLY! 

(story needed)

3. Observe: the Church of and for all peoples (2:5-13)

• Remember the context of 1 nation / 1 people group.
• Pentecost – from all over gathered
• Multiple languages each declaring is the moment that God has gone global… no longer just for one chosen people, but for all people and all nations.
• A whole new people, a whole new community
• And it did not make sense to the crowd, they thought they were drunk. When God brings all peoples together it doesn’t make sense… it stands out... and it is through this that people come to God. 

This NEW CHURCH:

• from a building to a people
• from individual to communal
• from one nation to global, all peoples

Application

The first question I have for us @ LAC is, What is our posture?

• How are “waiting” together in prayer?
• Where are we facing when we think church and God?
  • Facing toward other churches?
  • Facing backwards to the former days?
  • Facing toward people to either save us or leave so we can (fill in the blank)

I wonder if we spend more time planning God’s moves rather than having a posture of prayer waiting for him to move?

The Lord is doing something here among us, have you sensed it yet?  I believe from becoming a church with a prayer ministry to being a church of prayer.  Our posture matters… and not just individually…but as an entire church.

In October, we have a 7-day prayer week.  all day, every day set aside so we can be together in a posture of prayer asking for God to move among us… to use language from last week, to plead with God for revival.

The second question for us today is, when is the last time we suddenly experienced God’s power?

• Do you know a suddenly God?
• We often put God on our agenda and timing
• We often tell him what and when he needs to work
• LAC is a church full of amazing and gifted engineers, scientist, doctors, and prpfessioanls who are VERY good at what they do, successful at executing and delivering results. Having a plan and seeing that plan through… and I say AMEN and thank you.
• But I also want to warn us… we cannot do this with the Spirit of God.
• We can’t schedule what God will do.
• There is freedom in this truth… there is an adventure in this reality… we will see in Acts and I can tell you from my own life – it is a ride!

The last question today is, do you long for being a church of and for all peoples?

We are in a global movement.

These days statements like this can be controversial.  Why do we struggle with this, why do we live as (whoever you are) are the chosen people of God apart from everyone else?  Why do we reduce God and his love, redemption, and promises for only ourselves?

LAC is a church in which we take this very seriously… look around! And if you are new let me tell you something you are in a church family that has members working in just about every corner of the globe and every neighborhood in this city and valley. 

In fact, here is the Mission Statement of LAC, I really hope you have seen this!

Following Jesus, we participate in God's reconciling work by making disciples of all peoples and generations. LAC Mission Statement

But do you love this about us?

Do you long for this about us?

Do you allow this to transform us?

How big is your God?

Our God takes us to all peoples… in fact we are going to close this service in a way that illustrates this whole message… because in just a few days we will send a team to Lebanon …

(Lebanon team comes up to be commissioned)

Chinese Study Notes

疊浴巾的正確方式是什麼？這是我結婚後所面對的第一個“衝突”。我成長過程中所學的是將浴巾疊成三折，而我太太從小的訓練是兩折。要知道，我疊了25年的三折浴巾，都成為了我的下意識：浴巾、浴巾架，習以為常！但突然間，我一結婚就要接受一個新的疊法，這可花了我很長時間…我剛剛慶祝了我們結婚17周年---我要告訴你們的是我已經被改變了---我的孩子們可以證明---但他們好像有了一個更新的方法，就是直接把浴巾扔到地上！

這裡的要點是，一旦我們習慣了某種做事方式，就很難接受一種新方法和新現實。

在我讀使徒行傳第2章之前，我盼望大家可以明白上下文：神的子民那時有非常獨特的敬拜方式，是以某種方式聚集與神建立關係的---但第2章讓我們看見，神行了新事，開啟了一種新的敬拜和新型關係。教會的信徒都知道這個故事，如果你不熟悉，準備好喲，這可是激動人心和扣人心弦的！

請起立讀神的話，徒 2:1-13

1到了五旬節那天，他們都聚集在一起。2突然，有響聲從天上下來，好像狂風吹過，充滿了他們所坐的整個房子，3有舌頭像火焰那樣，向他們顯現，分開留在他們每一個人身上。4於是他們都被聖靈充滿，就照著聖靈賜給他們的話，開始說出別種語言。5當時，有從天下各國來的虔誠的猶太人，住在耶路撒冷。6這聲音一響，有一群人就聚集而來，非常慌亂，因為各個人都聽見使徒們用各個人本地的語言說話。7他們又驚訝又詫異，說：“看，這些說話的不都是加利利人嗎？8我們怎麼會聽到我們各自出生地的語言呢？9我們當中有帕提亞人、米底亞人、埃攔人；也有住在美索不達米亞、猶太和卡帕多細亞、本都和亞細亞、10弗裡吉亞和潘菲利亞、埃及和靠近古利奈的利比亞地區的人；還有從羅馬來的旅客，11包括猶太人和入猶太教的人；克裡特人和阿拉伯人。我們都聽見他們用我們的語言述說神偉大的作為！”12眾人又驚訝又困惑，彼此問：“這是什麼意思呢？”13可是另有些人嘲笑說：“他們被新酒灌醉了！”

這是神的話，請坐。

我們很快就會看經文，但我想在開始先談一下今天的講道背景。我們的講道是關於新教會的故事。事實上，這段經文是教會的故事，所謂“新”就新在人敬拜神以及與神溝通的方式。如果人類歷史的“浴巾”以前是以某種方式疊的，那麼此時的歷史時刻，一個新方式開始了。我們沒有生活在舊約時代，與早先的做事方式相去甚遠，那麼我簡單介紹一下神與他的子民之間互動的“早先方式”，我總結了三點。

1. 舊約: 被揀選的民。 神揀選了一個國度、一個特別的族群，讓他們從其它的國與民中分別出來歸於他。這個被揀選的民族就是以色列。他揀選他們的目的就是向世界彰顯他是神，以及他如何與他的子民建立關係。藉著以色列，世界就會知道神是誰，神的道是什麼。

2. 舊約: 被揀選的個體。這是一個總體表達。舊約許多故事都是講蒙揀選的個體是如何以特別的、個人性的方式為神所用的：摩西、雅各、大衛、路得、耶利米等等。我們常常看到神為某個特定任務、在特定時間呼召個體去彰顯神的名，展開聖經的故事。

3. 舊約: 有敬拜的具體場所---聖殿。 事實上，神對聖殿如何建造，敬拜如何進行都有特別的指示，非常複雜。我做高中牧師的時候試著做了一次，讓學生們按種族、性別和年齡分別就坐。聖殿是天與地的交匯處，是神顯現受人敬拜、與子民接近的地方。我們可以講一早晨聖殿，但我要大家瞭解的是，舊約有一個神居住並接受敬拜的具體地方。

有一個特定的民/族

神使用個體

神有一個殿宇

好，我們現在回到第二章，看看這樣的上下文與新教會有怎樣的關係。

從經文中可以觀察到三點：

1. 禱告的形式 (2:1)

先讓我們從1：12節看起：

12於是他們從那叫做“橄欖園”的山上回到耶路撒冷。這山在耶路撒冷附近，有安息日允許走的路程。13他們一進城，就到他們所住的樓上房間。在那裡有彼得、約翰、雅各、安得烈，腓力和多馬，巴多羅邁和馬太，亞勒腓的兒子雅各、激進派的西門、雅各的兒子猶大。14這些人與一些婦女以及耶穌的母親瑪麗亞、耶穌的兄弟們一起，都同心合意地恒切禱告。

第二章一開始我們看到，他們聚在一個地方，照著第一章的方式，一起不住禱告。

      使徒們和眾人（包括婦女和瑪麗亞）是一個集體禱告的形式。他們曾與耶穌一起，學習耶穌，耶穌要他們等待---他們等的時候，一起禱告…在一個房子裡，而不在聖殿。

      從這種集體禱告的形式開始，我們可以看到下一個運動：

2. 神“突如其來”的大能 (2:2-4)

突然，有響聲從天上下來，好像狂風吹過，充滿了他們所坐的整個房子，有舌頭像火焰那樣，向他們顯現，分開留在他們每一個人身上。於是他們都被聖靈充滿，就照著聖靈賜給他們的話，開始說出別種語言。

• 太不可思議了！
• 狂風大作
• 有舌頭像火焰那樣，向他們顯現，分開留在他們每一個人身上
• 被聖靈充滿
• 說出別種語言 – 新的，不是靠學習得來的。

我要你們看的是“突然”這個詞。

• 聖靈照自己的時間而來
• 聖靈不按我們的時間表
• 我們可以期待聖靈，但不能控制他何時何地出現。

記住耶穌在第一章說的話：“父憑著自己的權柄所定的時候和日期，不是你們可以知道的。8不過聖靈臨到你們的時候，你們將得著能力，並且要在耶路撒冷，在猶太和撒馬利亞全地，直到地極，做我的見證人。”

這是基督教的一個重要特色---神照自己的意願行動做事；沒有一個方程式可以掌控他或將其公式化。

我們有一個“突如其來”的神！

3. 教會和所有人 (2:5-13)

• 記住背景中的一國/一族
• 五旬節 – 從各地來聚集的
• 每個語言都在那時刻宣告，神面向普世，不再是一個選民，而是向萬國萬民
• 完全的新人，完全的新團體
• 對眾人來說不可思議，他們覺得這些人喝醉了。事實上，神把所有人帶到一起的時候才是不可思議…藉教會，人們來到神的面前

新教會:

• 從一個建築到一群人
• 從個人到共同體
• 從一國到萬國萬民

應用

我要問大家的第一個問題就是：什麼是我們的形式？

• 怎樣在禱告中一起等待？
• 當我們想到教會和神的時候，我們正面對什麼？
  • 我們期待其它教會麼？
  • 我們面對以前的日子嗎？
  • 我們會留心幫助過我們的人或離開的人麼（好填補空缺）？

            我想知道我們是否要花時間計畫神的行動，還是以禱告的形式等候他的行動？

主正在我們當中做事，你感覺到了麼？從一個有禱告事工的教會到一個禱告的教會，我們不是以個人的形式，而是全教會。

十月份我們會有7天的禱告周，我們會集中每一天在一起以禱告的形式尋求神的帶領…用上一周的話說，就是求神帶來復興。

第二個問題：我們上一次是什麼時候經歷了神突如其來的能力？

• 你認識突如其來的神嗎？
• 我們常常把神放在我們自己的計畫和時間裡
• 我們常常告訴他什麼時候做什麼
• 我們教會有許多才華橫溢的工程師、科學家、醫生和專業人士，他們清楚知道自己所做的，而且在自己的計畫上很成功
• 但我想提出警告：我們不能沒有聖靈
• 我們不能計畫神做什麼
• 真理帶來自由…但不能濫用…我們要看使徒行傳，我要以親身經歷告訴你們，這是一個屬靈的歷程！

最後一個問題是，你期待一個為萬民的教會嗎？

我們在一個普世運動中。

類似這類的說法會帶來爭議。我們為什麼要在此爭議---不管我們是誰，我們為什麼要像神的選民與別人遙遠隔開呢？為什麼我們要把神的愛、救贖、應許縮小到我們自己身上呢？

      我們教會對此非常認真地看待…向你周圍看看！如果你是新來的，我告訴你，這個教會大家庭的成員來自世界的每一角落，來自這個城市和地區的每一個社區。

      事實上，我非常盼望你可以看一下我們教會的使命宣言：

      我們跟隨耶穌，藉著使各族、各代的人成為門徒來參與神的和好工作

      你喜歡這個嗎？

      你渴望這個嗎？

      你願意讓它改變自己嗎？

      你的神有多大？

      我們的神把我們帶到萬民中…我們要以一個特別的方式結束今天的敬拜，來闡明今天所講的…因為幾天後，我們就要差派一個隊伍去黎巴嫩…

(請去黎巴嫩的團隊上來接受差派)