Groups that Multiply
Transcript
We're wrapping up our anchor series, and so what we've been doing for the past six weeks is just kind of walking through and looking at who we are as a church family, what we feel called to do and to be in this area. And so really what we've been doing is taking – we're a gospel-centered community on mission. That's what we say about ourselves. That's what we strive to be. And so we've just been taking that and saying, okay, if we're a gospel-centered community on mission, what does that mean? What do we mean when we say that?
What does that look like? How do we do that? Where did we get that from? Did we just make that up? We didn't. We got it mostly out of the Bible, liked the phrasing of some other churches and how they talk about things.
And so we stole some things from other Christians who are smart. But we really just wanted to help define who we are. And so that's what we say. We're a gospel-centered community on mission. And so in the anchor series, we've just been looking and saying, okay, what are we talking about? What's that look like?
So today is our last day in the anchor series. And the next week, we're going to start walking verse by verse through the book of Jonah. So I'm really excited that we get to do that because we like books of the Bible and we like going through books of the Bible. But today is our last day in the anchor series. And so what we're going to do is we're going to try to sum it all up, try to wrap it all together, put a nice bow on it. And so we've got our work cut out for us.
So what I'm going to do before we hop in, before we get to talking about what we're going to look at today, is I just want to take a minute to recap where we've been, what we've been talking about for the past six weeks, what we've been trying to articulate. And so what we did was the first three weeks, we just talked about the gospel. We talked about what does it mean for us to be gospel centered. So if we're gospel centered, if that's primary for us, everything else comes out of that. What is the gospel? And so we walked through the first six chapters of Romans because we're ambitious.
And so we took one Sunday and walked through the first six chapters of Romans and just kind of skipped around, but tried to get a really clear picture of what the gospel is. And basically what we saw is that God created everything and designed everything to exist in relationship with him as creator and creation. Just like a husband and wife would exist in relationship with one another. So if you were married and you acted like you did not have a spouse, that would make you a bad spouse just because of the relationship. So if I was hanging out with you and I was like, man, don't you need to like head home, check on your wife, like whatever.
And you're like, nah, man, I don't even act like that holds me down. I'd be like, you're a terrible husband. Like you aren't doing this right. And so the biggest problem that we have as creation is that we haven't existed with God in that relationship. We have removed God from the position that he ought to hold as our creator. And we've worshipped other things.
We've pursued other things. We've loved other things. And this is sin. And this is what leads us into all sin. It's when we begin to value something more than God. We begin to look at anything and say, you're going to complete me.
You're going to make me whole. You're going to fix me. If I can just have this, then I'll be okay. When we were designed to be fulfilled and complete by God, when we remove him from the equation and put anything else there, that becomes a fundamental issue. And it's treason of the highest type. And so it puts us in a bad spot.
So as we went to Romans, we saw that we've sinned, we've fallen short, and there's no way we can fix this. We can't moral our way back into it. We can't behave our way back into fixing this problem. That even in a lot of our morality and behavior-based stuff, we're just using that to put God in our debt. And so he's still not in the place of creator. And so what we saw was that Jesus came and lived perfectly on our behalf, did exactly what we ought to have done, loved the way we ought to have loved, worshipped the way we ought to have worshipped, related with other people the way we ought to relate with other people.
And then he was perfect. And in his perfection, he was killed. He was nailed to a cross. And he died in our place for our sin as our substitute. So that he took our execution that we deserved.
And when he did that, he took our death that we deserved, and he gave us his life that we did not earn. And so that through Jesus, we can be saved. We can be made right with God. So we're saved by Jesus's work, not ours. That's the gospel. And that's really good news.
We don't gather together as a church to celebrate that we can all behave well. That would be a terrible group of people to have to try to be a part of. I would be the worst at it. So we gather together to celebrate the fact that Jesus behaved, Jesus loved, Jesus worshipped in our place, Jesus did everything, and he took our punishment to set us free. So that's what we're centered on.
That's our story. That's the way we view the world. And so what we did was we took the next two weeks and just talked about, if that's true for us, then that affects how we talk to people. It affects how we respond to each other in our sin. So if I'm walking with somebody, and they're walking with me through life, and I'm struggling with being a jerk, they don't just say, hey, here's your problem.
You're a jerk. Which that wouldn't be a good, like they didn't need it. I would be like, cite your sources. Tell me how I'm a jerk. And then 30 minutes later, I'd be like, I get the picture. That's enough.
Like, I didn't realize you had, like, footnotes and stuff and, like, dates. Like, you ever get in an argument with your wife, and they're like, well. Because they've got, like, way more memory than you do. And they're like, well, four months ago, you said this at 7.15 p.m. on a Thursday. And I'm like, maybe. Sounds like something I might would have said.
I don't remember. But they wouldn't just say, she wouldn't just say, my wife wouldn't just say, or the friend just wouldn't just say, or we wouldn't just say as Christians, hey, here's your behavioral problem. Fix your behavior. Here's the behavioral change that needs to take place. Because that actually Acts as if we don't know that the gospel is true. Which is, not that our behavior fixed the problem, but that Jesus did.
And that our major problem isn't a behavioral one, but a worship one. And so actually, the way we respond to each other is with the gospel. Which is, you have a behavioral issue, but what it means is, and what it betrays is, that's just a symptom, but you have cancer. And what we're seeing is that you're actually not worshiping and loving God the way you ought to. You don't actually believe the gospel the way you ought to. And here's what Jesus did on your behalf, and that in that, our hearts can actually change, and then our behavior can change.
But the behavior is the smaller problem. And so that we actually respond to each other and point each other to Jesus, and that's how we change, and that's how we grow, and that's how we get life. And that's the story anyway. Not that we behave, but that he did. Not that we're good, but he was. And so we don't just try to behavior modification one another.
And then we understand in that, that our main problem is idolatry. That's our major sin issue, is that we're worshiping something other than God as God. And so we address that, that there's always sin beneath our sin. So that if I'm not generous, the major problem isn't that I'm not generous. The major problem is that I believe something about money that is fundamentally not true. Which means I believe something about God that's fundamentally not true.
And so we address that. So we spent three weeks talking about that, talking about the gospel, what it means for us to be gospel-centered. And then we talked about community. All right, so we exist in the context of relationships. We exist as a family because God, when Jesus died for us, he actually reconciled us to God, and we've been adopted. So the Bible is repeatedly going to say that we've been adopted into God's family so that we are in relationships with one another as an eternal family.
So that if your spouse at one point, if you're both believers, someday you will no longer be spouse and husband and wife, but you will be brother and sister forever because of Jesus. And so that we treat our church family as family. So that when a phone call comes in at midnight, we answer. When somebody's moving, we help. If you could ask your dad to come help you with something, if you could ask your cousin to come help you with something, or your brother or your sister, then you can ask church family to help with the same thing. That's how we relate to one another.
And then we said that in that, in that relating to one another, it's very difficult and painful, and that's part of how we get to grow in relationships and how we get to grow in the gospel. So that I actually get to understand how costly Jesus' forgiveness was when I have to forgive someone. I actually get to understand how great his sacrifice was when I have to sacrifice my time, my energy for someone else. And so that we actually grow and are designed to serve in those relationships. And then last week, Raz talked about that we, because of that, so because of the gospel is true and because we exist in relationships with each other, then we just normally in everyday life move on mission, that we invite other people into that, that we tell the good news, and that in normal everyday life, we make disciples by building relationships with people.
That's people in our church family and people who don't know Jesus yet. And so Raz specifically talked about what does it look like to make disciples, what are we doing in life as we do that, and that we're called to make disciples of all nations, which is just all ethnic groups, that everybody is invited in. And that's normal for Christians. That in normal life, we build relationships, we see who we're around, we pray for people, and we seek to share good news. And so what we're going to do today is we're going to kind of tie all that together. We're going to look at how that plays out in the context of us as our church family specifically and as Christians in general and why it's important, why it actually matters that we're a gospel-centered community on mission, why it actually matters that we pay attention to this, that we think about this, that we would take the time at the beginning of the year to remind ourselves of this.
And so what I'd like for us to do is, I know everybody's had to get here this morning. You've had to go through maybe a decent amount to get ready, to time everything right, to drive in the rain, to decide whether or not it was going to be freezing rain and whether or not you should even risk it. So you are all risk-takers. You love to live dangerously. That's what I know about the people that are here this morning. And you also understand that it wasn't going to be freezing rain because it's out in Carolina.
So what I'd like for us to do is to take just a second. If you've been here for that entire time, all the stuff we just recapped, or if you've been here for a couple of those or maybe this is your first Sunday, what I'd like for us to do is just take a second. And for Christians in the room, I want us to just, we're going to be quiet for about 60 seconds. I want us to just invite the Holy Spirit to remind us of all of that, to help us feel it and know that it's true. And then to help us as we look today to really show us what this looks like for us personally and in the context of our groups. If you're not a Christian and you're hanging out with us this morning, you really have two options for what we're about to do.
Option one is sit quietly for 60 seconds. Maybe daydream, pick where you want to eat lunch, something like that. Option two would be to actually pray, to just inside your head, ask God to speak to you, to reveal himself today. If you're here hanging out and checking us all out and you weren't dragged here, maybe you're checking out the whole Jesus thing. So you can pray and say, God, if you are real, help me see that today.
We would invite you to do that. At worst, that's a waste of time. At best, you talk to the creator of the universe and he might respond. And so we would invite you to do that. So Christians, we're going to pray that the Holy Spirit would remind us of this, of what we've talked about, help us to see it, to have it actually be real to us.
So let's do that now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to spend a little bit of time in Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2. I got to speak at my home church, the church I grew up in this past Sunday, last Sunday night.
And we looked at Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2. And I told them, I was like, our church family looks at this passage all the time. Like if you grab a pew Bible or a row Bible, I guess we don't really have pews, but if you grab a row Bible at our church family and you go to Acts chapter 2, the words are all smudged because we've read them too much. And so, but this is one of the foundational things that helped us get started as a church family that we look at a good bit, that we remind ourselves of. And so we're going to be in Acts chapter 1 to start and then we're going to jump over to Acts chapter 2 and just get to see a really beautiful picture of what the church gets to look like as the gospel takes hold in the lives of believers.
All right, so Acts chapter 1 starting in verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked him. Okay, so they being Jesus and his disciples, and they asked him, so they being the disciples, asked Jesus. Now, that seems like a very normal sentence and it's one of the weirdest ones you probably have ever read in your entire life. Because the they that got together includes a bunch of random kind of hodgepodge group of guys that were brought together by Jesus in and around Galilee and Jerusalem in the first century. It includes them, but more than that, it includes a guy who had been dead 40 days earlier.
Not like on the table, heart stopped, clear, and he came back and he's like, I was dead. No, three days in a tomb, dead. Had been wrapped up. They were going to put some smell good stuff on him when it turns out he wasn't dead anymore and had come back to life. So that's a really weird sentence.
It says they got together and they asked him. They're there with a guy who had been dead, who had said all along that he was God and that he was going to be killed and then rose from the grave. So you don't get to say that sentence. You're not like, yeah, my uncle passed away, but in two weeks we're going to be going to vacation together. Or, yeah, I was just hanging out with my grandmother who died last year. Do what now?
Like, you should probably get some help. That's weird. I hope that she wasn't actually there because if she was actually there, that's even worse. Like, you should have buried her. Like, this is bad. So Jesus was dead and is alive, bodily, physically resurrected, alive.
And so they're with Jesus. He said he was God and then when he came back from the dead, they were like, oh, oh, for real though? Okay. No, no, yeah, we get it now. That makes more sense. All the stuff you had said about dying and coming back.
We thought it was like metaphorical and then when you died, we were all bummed and then now you're not dead and that makes way more sense. Okay. Verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Basically, you're asking the wrong question.
That's not what we're going to talk about. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. Okay. So that got weirder.
He had died. Said he was God. Said he was going to die. Said that he was going to atone for sins through that. He died. Three days later, he rose again.
He tells them, here's what you're going to do. And then he flies. He ascends back into heaven and a cloud took him out of the way. He didn't like vaporize. Like he just, his whole body just took off. And I used to, when I would imagine that, I used to imagine it was like slow.
Like if you had like little wires or something, he just started to float. Do you know how long that would have taken? Like if it was slow? Like after a while, he'd have just been like, I mean, you'd have been enthralled because the guy was flying. But after a while, he'd be like, man, it's going to take forever until he hits that cloud.
Like he'd be waving or whatever. I think he just took off. He just said what he had to say. He said, here's what's going to happen. The Holy Spirit's going to come. You're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth.
And then he was just like, boom, dust. They looked up and then they just, it says they stared up there for a while like, oh, goodness. And then angels show up or some men show up. It doesn't tell us they're angels, but men wearing right robes go say, hey, are y'all going to go do what he said? But here's what he said.
And here's what I want us to see. He says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, the ends of the earth, that the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you so that Jesus is going to leave and the Holy Spirit's going to come and empower his church to do this, to be witnesses. What are they witnesses of? What is he talking about? What is the church, us as believers? What are we witnesses of?
The gospel. We're witnesses to the fact that Jesus died and rose again. That's what they were going to go tell people. And here's the way witnessing works. Here's what a witness does. They just tell you what's happened.
That's all they do. They're just telling a story. They're telling about an event that happened. If a cop gets called up on the witness stand, he doesn't sit down and start explaining how to be a cop. His primary role as a witness is just to tell everybody what he's seen, what happened. If you're watching a news program and they have a cooking segment, the cooking segment and the eyewitness segment are completely different.
The cooking segment is here's what you do to receive these results. The eyewitness section is just someone holding a mic and telling us not a whole lot other than what they've seen. So, yeah, we're out on the scene and there's an ambulance. Uh-huh. Some tape. People were running.
It's like, okay, that's what we get to do as Christians. We just get to be witnesses to who Jesus is, to what he's done. Yes, there was a man who came from God. Turns out he was God. He lived perfectly and he died. And three days later he came back.
That was the story that they got to tell. And here's the thing. Jesus did that to save the world, to reconcile it back to himself. And then he hands that mission over to his disciples. That mission is handed over to the church. God's plan to save the world is the local church.
God's plan to save the world is the local church. We have been given this message to declare. We have been called to be witnesses. And it says where? Well, for them it was Jerusalem, where they were. Judea.
Samaria, which was a place they didn't like. A bunch of people they didn't get along with. They racially weren't happy with. And to the ends of the earth. That it goes to everyone. Everyone is invited in.
That's the church. Have been given the message to declare. To declare the gospel. That's why we're gospel centered. Because we're witnesses. We've been called to make much of Jesus.
In normal everyday life. We've been sent out by God to declare. So here's what happens. That's what they do. They begin to pray. The Holy Spirit comes.
Empowers them. And then they go declare this message. They go be witnesses. And so let's jump to Acts chapter 2. We're going to pick up in verse 36. And we're going to see what happens as they declare this message.
What happens as a group of people who believes this message begins to be witnesses to it. 36. So this is Peter. He stood up. The Holy Spirit comes. Peter stands up.
Begins to proclaim the gospel. Begins to tell this good news. And people are listening. And this is the very end of it. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified.
So Peter ends with it's your fault. The reason Jesus was crucified is on you. That Jesus was fundamentally in the gospel is a little bit of we have to respond because it's our fault. He had to die for our sin personally. So he says you whom you crucified.
So let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this. If you're thinking. Okay but hold on a second. He's talking to the guys that actually crucified him.
Maybe. The Romans actually crucified him. The Jewish people were culpable. But this is the feast of Pentecost. So there was people from miles around.
So it's the same message to us. That we're culpable. We're guilty. When it comes to the death of Jesus. 37. Now when they heard this.
They were cut to the heart. And said to Peter and the rest of the apostles. Brothers what shall we do? And Peter said to them repent. Which means turn away from your sin. Turn away from your brokenness.
Turn away from your need. Repent and be baptized every one of you. In the name of Jesus Christ. For the forgiveness of your sins. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you.
And for your children. And for all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words he bore witness. And continued to exhort them saying. Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
So those who received his word were baptized. And there were added that day about 3,000 souls. Baptism is just an outward showing of what's inwardly happened. So they trusted Jesus. Were saved. And then they were baptized.
Which means that they dumped them in water. The word baptized just means to dip. Or to submerge in water. And so that's what they were. They were baptized. Who responded?
Who trusted Jesus? Who became Christians? The first people to say. I'm broken. I'm needy. It was the people who saw that they were guilty.
And said I have nothing to offer. Nothing to bring to the table. What must we do? And he says trust Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. That Jesus is both Lord and Christ. Which means king and savior.
He's in charge. And he's the one who saves us. The only people who aren't invited in. Are those who don't think they have need. The only people who did not respond. And who walked away that day.
Were the people who did not believe this message. And didn't think they were broken. And that breaks down into people who don't think that Jesus is Lord. Don't think he's king. And to people who don't think he's savior. You see if I'm really moral.
I'm really good. I behave really well. I'm upright. I'm a good citizen. Listen. I'm a red state American.
Then it's very likely that I'll believe I don't need a savior. Because I'm good enough. That the way I'm saved is through my behavior. So in our culture they might be called closed minded. Might be called bigoted. But they'll walk away from Jesus.
Because they're believing that they can save themselves. That they can fix themselves. You know how else walks away from that? Everybody who's broken. Everybody who's needy. Everybody who realizes they have nothing to offer.
Gets invited in. It's only the people that exclude themselves. You know how else walks away from that? The people who think that they're on Lord. That Jesus isn't king. I'm open minded.
I'm free. Whose rules would I have to follow? Whose regulations? I can make my own decisions. All of that religious stuff. That's for closed minded people.
That's for ignorant people. I'm a true blue stated American. And I can rely on myself. You see both sides of that? Self reliance. Self salvation.
Self lordship. But everyone who realizes they have nothing to offer. Nothing to bring to the table. Nothing. They're invited in. That's why the church can't hold a position of moral superiority in culture.
Because we were the first people to say we're busted and we need a savior. That's why everyone's invited into the church. Oh you're prideful? Oh you think you have it all together and you're just realizing now that you don't? You're welcome. Come on in.
We got a lot of prideful jerks here. Who need Jesus? Jesus. Oh you're rebellious? Oh you've run after every type of flagrant sin you could possibly chase after? And you've just now realized you have nothing to offer and you need Jesus?
Welcome. We've got a lot of people who struggle with that here. We've got a lot of people who can't remember many nights because they were too drunk. We've got a lot of people who've realized their need for Jesus and have been invited in. The only people who aren't invited are the people who think they're already in through their behavior, through their moral superiority, through their intelligence. Everyone who realizes that they're far off, everyone who realizes that they're out gets invited in.
That's the church. So what happens in that group of people? What happens in us as we begin to believe the gospel and exist in relationships? What happens in this group of people who were the first to say, I need a savior. I need someone else to do this on my behalf. I'm not good enough.
I'm not smart enough. I'm not strong enough. What happens? 42. 42. And they, that's the 3,000 people.
That's all the believers. All the people who said, I realize I'm needy. I'm broken. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. What were the apostles' teaching? The gospel.
They were taking the Old Testament and they were saying, here's the gospel. And then as we get their teaching in the New Testament because it's the stuff that apostles actually penned. But that's what they were devoting themselves to was understanding the gospel, what it looked like to live in light of the gospel. If Jesus was actually God, how do we rightly relate to him? That's what they were doing. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship.
That just means, that's a fancy word for they were hanging out with each other. They were being church family. So, you know, like you hang out with friends and then you become a Christian. And so instead of saying like, oh, yeah, we had a really good time hanging out, you say, oh, we had a wonderful time of fellowship. That's where that comes from. That's why people say that.
Oh, bless this fellowship because it's just a fancy Christian word for us being together and being in a relationship. Okay? So if you want to like out-Christian somebody, throw fellowship around. It's real helpful. Anyway, sorry. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship.
They were church family. They existed in relationships with one another. And to the breaking of bread. That shows up in two ways. That's communion. That's celebrating that Jesus died for us.
Reminding ourselves of the gospel tangibly. It also seems like it just means they ate meals together. Breaking of bread. Breaking of bread. And the prayers. And all 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. They got together, realized the gospel is true, realized they were family. And suddenly they got to hold everything with an open hand. You need this.
You need to borrow that. You need to, like, we're family. And everything's already been given to me in Jesus. 46. And day by day, attending the temple together. So they got together in big groups.
And breaking bread in their homes. They got together in smaller groups and homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts. Praising God and having favor with all the people. The city was glad that they were there. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Okay. That last line's a little weird. You can just read over and not pay attention. But the last line's a little weird. Because how? How did the Lord add to their number day by day those who were being saved?
Those who were believing the gospel? Because it doesn't tell us. It just tells us what they were doing. And most of the way we respond in the church is like, well, what did they do? Did they go knock on doors? Did they have a program where they got people together and they sent them out?
Did they have some kind of thing where they were inviting people? Like, we don't. We're like, how? How did people become Christians every day? Love to see that happen in our church. How'd they do that?
Well, they just told us. They were devoted to the gospel and to each other. They spent time in relationships with one another, celebrating the gospel by breaking bread. And they prayed. And people become Christians. It becomes normal for people to become Christians.
Because they actually believed the gospel, which is good news. If you're here and you're a Christian and the gospel doesn't feel like good news to you, if it doesn't feel like it sets you free and gives you hope, I don't think you've believed the right gospel. I don't think you understand what's true about it. Because it's actually good news that Jesus saves us through his own work, not ours. And here's the thing about good news. We want to share it.
When that becomes real, when I understand exactly what Jesus has done for me, in those moments, I want to tell people. You ever had really good news? Like, we've had a couple of couples in our church family recently become pregnant. They're going to have children. They go around and they share that good news. They want to share that joy.
They want to have different groups of people to get together to share that with. We've had people, when they get a promotion, they want to throw a party. They want to share that news. The biggest way I do this on a regular basis is with restaurants. That's my favorite thing to talk to somebody about. Like, if I eat somewhere good, I want everyone to know it.
And that's how good news gets spread. So, like, if you're giving me directions and you're like, do you know where Tillman Street is? I'll be like, do restaurants. You'll be like, do you know where the Taco Bell is in West Columbia? Yep. I know where that is.
That's how I get around. That's how I get to know a city is I eat places. And if I ever eat somewhere good, I'm going to tell you about it. Egg Roll Station, it's on where Sunset meets State Street. It looks like a barn. And you have to have cash only, and it is amazing.
But anyway, that's what we want to share good news with people. And they had good news that Jesus saves, that he rescues, that he redeems, and that everyone's invited in. Everyone. Everyone. And people on a normal, regular, everyday basis start believing the good news and being invited in because they see the church being the church because the gospel was true. Have you had that?
Do you have those moments when the gospel is so true? When Jesus's generosity towards you is so real and somebody needs something, you have that moment where money's just money? You just have the opportunity to bless? Like you didn't even hesitate to grab your wallet and help somebody? Have you had that moment? Have you had that moment when Jesus's sacrifice was so real to you that when someone called and asked for help, you didn't even think about it because you got to just hop in?
That's few and far between for us, and that's why we spent a whole week saying we get to grow as we work in that. But even as we've walked through this series, if you had those moments where the gospel seems so real, so tangible, that you understand why we exist in relationships with each other as family. That's what was going on for them. It was so real, so rich, they could taste it, what had been accomplished for them on the cross, that they just lived it out in normal everyday life. You see, the plan to save the world, God's plan to rescue the world is the church. And there is no plan B.
And the way he does that is through normal everyday life. Certainly, some of them ended up moving far off. Certainly, some of them ended up saying, I feel specifically led to go to this area. But most of it happened in normal everyday life. And you know what happens when the gospel is real? The weight's lifted up.
We don't have to earn it. We don't have to achieve it. We're not burdened by being good. We want to be good. We have a desire for it because of Jesus' work in us, because the gospel is true, but we're not burdened by it. And everything suddenly has meaning.
There is no wasted day anymore if the gospel is true. So that was what messed me up in college. I started reading the Bible in the morning. I'd always read the Bible growing up. I didn't know. I grew up in a Christian home.
I didn't know people didn't read the Bible. So I just always read the Bible, start to finish all the way through. So I mean, I was like in middle school reading the book of Numbers. I don't know if I understood any of it, but I read it. I got to college and I started reading the Bible in the morning and drinking coffee. That messed up my whole life.
That's why I'm standing here this morning. Because it totally altered things for me. Because I started reading the Bible. I read sections like this. I remember distinctly reading this section in college and thinking, if the gospel is actually true, if what we're here saying we believe this morning is actually true, well, that changes everything. And it would actually change how I live.
It actually changed how I treat people, how I view the world, what I do with my time, my money, my energy, if it's actually true. If what we just read about Jesus coming back to life and then in bodily form ascending into heaven is true, that he is Lord and Christ, that one day he will return and he will rule and reign forever. And that the two options for his creation are you pay for your sin or Jesus pays for your sin. You exclude yourself or you get invited in. If that's actually true, I couldn't keep living my life the way I was. And that's what we see here.
That's why you read this in Acts and you go, why did they suddenly change? Why did this group of people in this, why did they, because it was true. Because they believed it and it affects everything. That's what we get to see and that's what we get to be as a church family. We get to be Christians in normal everyday life. We get to have normal jobs, but we get to have them with intentionality.
We get to go to school. We get to study physical health. We get to study to be an athletic trainer. We get to study to go be a nurse practitioner. And we get to do that absolutely wrecked by the grace of the gospel and absolutely invited in to be a part of God's mission. And so here's how that plays out.
What we see is that God added to them day by day, those who were being saved. I want us to read that again. 46. 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. So again, the city was happy they were there.
And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. That's why we organize the way we do as a church family. That's why we get together in groups. That's why on Sundays, I remember we were meeting at First Baptist and Hope Bridge. I would stand up. Not Hope Bridge.
First Baptist. I lied. Hope Bridge, we didn't say this. First Baptist, I would stand up on Sundays. We would get together Sunday nights. I would look at everyone, all 15 of you, and I knew everyone was in a group.
And I would say, hey, if you want to get in a group, I remember doing that and people going, who's this fool talking to? Bro, we in your group. I'm going to see you Thursday. The reason we did it was because that's who we are. That's how we exist in relationships in life. And I want everybody to remember that, not get confused by what we're doing on Sunday.
And I wanted everybody to know if you get somebody to come hang out with you, somebody wants to come hang out with us on Sunday, we're going to tell them about how we exist as a church family. We're going to talk about it because that's who we are. We walk through everyday life together because we're trying to do this. Because we believe this is how we grow and this is how we have life and this is how we remind ourselves constantly of the gospel. We believe that's what we're called to. And here's what we're going to do as a church.
We're going to try to grow and multiply at all levels. It says day by day they were added to their number, those who were being saved. What we want to see is that people who follow Jesus help other people follow Jesus. That disciples make disciples. So I'm a Jesus follower so automatically I'm going to help other people follow Jesus because it's actually good news.
It's actually real. It actually gives me hope. It actually gives me peace. He's actually rescued me. That for our group leaders, we have community groups and we have group leaders, that they would train other people to be group leaders, which is just someone who's intentionally going to give some extra time to help pastor our church family, to help gather people together, to help be organized, go out of their way to do that so that group leaders would train other group leaders, that groups would make other groups. My group has grown to the point now at some point we're going to have to multiply.
We have this debate all the time. They're like, but isn't it dividing? It feels like dividing. They'll use the word split. I'm like, we're not using split. Like that's not, that's a bad word.
We're multiplying because we're gaining. We're growing through it. We're seeing more people get to hop in. Here's what's beautiful. None of us, you didn't know anybody here two years ago. And now you can't imagine life without them.
And there are people who are not here today that that's true for. It'll be true for them in a year. There's two real people. You don't know them yet. We'll call them Eric and Sarah. They're real.
You don't know them because you haven't met them yet. But in a year, you won't be able to imagine what it was like, what life was like without Eric in it because of how much joy he brings because that time he just sat next to you on your couch after your relative died and was just there. You'll be able to look back a year from now and remember the time that you screamed your head off when he was baptized. And you won't be able to imagine what it was like to be in a community group to exist as church family without Eric around. Sarah, you'll look forward to hearing her laugh because she has an infectious laugh.
She laughs at dumb jokes that aren't funny and makes everyone else laugh with her because the way she laughs is great. currently, the place that she sits regularly when she gathers with your group throughout the week, just a throw pillow sitting there. But a year from now, you won't be able to imagine what it was like without Sarah around, without Sarah in your life to call. That's why we get to be who we get to be because there are real people in this city who don't have hope, who don't know Jesus, who haven't been set free, who are lonely and have no one to call and haven't been invited into family. The reason why we get to be, the reason why we're a gospel-centered community on mission is because of us.
Because we didn't have that at one point. Because there's people who exist in our city who were like us two, three, five years ago. without hope, without church family, without Jesus. If you take a circle and just draw it around West Columbia, just West Columbia, not Columbia, not Irma, not Lexington, just the West Columbia area. It's like a four-mile radius. 60,000 people in that circle aren't a part of a church family and most likely don't know Jesus. A lot of them probably think they do.
But they think it's about behavior. It's about work. And that's why we do what we do. And that's why we're going to continue to multiply groups and continue to train group leaders. And that's why it's worth it. Because we get to be God's church.
And His plan to save the world is the local church. It's groups of people that actually believe the gospel. It's communities centered around the gospel on mission. That's us. That's what we're shooting for. That's who we get to be.
And here's why it matters. Flip over to the book of Revelation. So in the book of Revelation if you're not really familiar with it you've probably heard weird stuff about it. We'll be on page 666. So go ahead and get that out of the way.
It's fitting that that page would be in the book of Revelation. But we're in the book of Revelation. Here's what happens in the book of Revelation. There was a disciple named John. He wrote the book of John. He wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John.
I think there's a 3rd John. It's real short. Yeah, he wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John because I know about the Bible, guys. And he wrote the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is really old. He was exiled to an island.
He had already been boiled alive in oil but he didn't die. But he probably looked weird after that. But he was exiled to an island. The Holy Spirit takes him and shows him some future stuff and shows him some weird things and he just kind of writes down what he sees. At this point though he's getting a glimpse into heaven. He's getting a glimpse into eternity.
And so I just want us to take a second to look at that and see why this matters. We're going to be verse 9, chapter 7. After this I looked, that's John, he looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb. So God, the Father, is on the throne. The Lamb is Jesus who died for our sins as our sacrifice. Do you see what he just said?
Jesus in Matthew, chapter 28, what Razvalad read last week was, go and make disciples of all people groups. Jesus, so what we see right before he ascends in Acts, chapter 1, says, you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. God, God, everyone, everyone's invited in and everyone makes it. Not everyone on earth is going to make it, but God will not have a people group, a nation, a tribe not represented before his throne. And you know what's beautiful about that? When he looks out and sees them, he still sees people groups, nations, and tribes and languages.
Everyone's invited in and there is not one set culture for Christianity because God made everyone and every people group, every type of person shows and reflects some of his glory. Everybody gets invited in. That is going to be the best singing and worship that exists. I remember going up to visit Liberty University before I was going to go to seminary there and I walked in and there was two white dudes, skinny jeans and like flock of seagulls haircuts. Like, I mean, they just looked ridiculous. Um, like the, a super long version of like the Macklemore haircut or whatever.
Um, and I remember thinking, okay. And they both had, uh, acoustic guitars and they started just leading us in singing, uh, through worship. And I mean, I'm white and I was like, this is great. Like I totally got into it. Like we, I was able to worship because a white people can worship to two electric, uh, two acoustic guitars. Most white people can, can sing and praise Jesus.
That's some of our music. I remember last year we got together for Easter or one of the weeks before Easter. And we had like, uh, we had a violin and a, um, mandolin. And I mean, I was, we were, they were warming up and practicing. I was like, this is great. This is amazing music.
And it may be too white. Like if I'm liking it this much, it may be we've, we've overshot our goal of what we're doing. I remember gathering with a, um, a church in Lynchburg that was, uh, mostly African-American and a guy led worship from a drum set. And it was awesome. That was it. It was just a drum set and them singing.
It was great. And I had no clue what to do with that. Like, I'm like, do I cut? Okay. I don't like I, that's all I had. It was beautiful.
I just had to sit and listen, but I couldn't do anything with it. I remember in, in, uh, college being a part of a gospel choir. Um, and so it was Matt helped lead it, but it was, we were the only two white boys involved in this. And, uh, I remember I can, I can sing. Okay. If I'm standing next to somebody who can sing in the last day before our gospel choir, big showcase thing, we're, we're going over to the place to practice and aunt Frederick, uh, not aunt Frederick, uh, Antoine Thomas looks at us and says, all right, we walk in.
Here's what we're going to do. We're going to stomp, stomp, clap, stomp. And I was like, do what? You going to tell me this the last day? This is what I should have been practicing the whole time. They were like, what?
We go sing the same songs. I was like, what? We go sing the same songs. I got to stomp and clap while I sing. I'm not kidding you. And you can ask Anna for verification.
I could either sing the songs or I could clap and sway. I could not do both. And it was me and another friend of mine, he was on the end. And so I messed him up the entire time. We would run into each other because we were supposed to be swaying this way. And I was swaying this way and I'd be hitting him and he'd be looking at me like, dude, get together.
So eventually I just did this, kept up with the clapping and swaying. Didn't say a word because I didn't have it. I ain't got it. It just ain't going to happen. In eternity, we're all there. We're all welcomed in.
Everybody's invited and everything gets to be a part of it. And it doesn't get erased and it doesn't get washed over and it doesn't become, oh, only this culture, only this type of people, only this nationality, only this background, only this language, all of them, because God's God of all of them. And everyone's invited in. And we get to be his church in this city. Who gets to be a part of that? Who gets to be a part of looking like the kingdom of God already, going out of our way to invite everyone in because we want that throne room packed.
Let's read the rest of this because it gets good. We'll start back up at nine. After this, I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. So what we're screaming out is the gospel. We didn't earn this. We didn't accomplish this.
We didn't make this happen, but you did. Salvation belongs to you. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders addressed me saying, who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come?
And I said, sir, you know, and he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. There's going to be an eternity where we get to praise and worship Jesus that he cleaned us up through his own blood, that he made us right through his sacrifice, that we were all welcomed in because he was cast out, that we all get to have a real father, a true father, father because his for forsaken him, that we get to have a life because he died, that we're washed clean because he shed his blood for us. That's true. Eternity is real.
So are we going to go out of our way to multiply groups? Are we going to go out of our way to invite people in? Are we going to go out of our way to sacrifice? Absolutely. Because the gospel is real. Is that going to affect everyday life?
Absolutely. Why wouldn't it? Is that going to affect what we do with our money and our time? Absolutely. Why wouldn't it? Is that going to affect how we relate to our neighbors?
How we relate to our coworkers? Absolutely. Why wouldn't it? And we're Christians. We wouldn't have it any other way than to be family, to center our entire lives around the gospel and to see that throne room packed out with everybody. All those who knew they had need and ran to the king.