A City Transformed: The Habits: Totally Devoted
Dr. Tom Pace
February 24, 2019
Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.All who believed were together and had all things in common;they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts,praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
Thomas made reference in his prayer this morning to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. Let me just say a word about that. They’re meeting as we speak. The meeting began yesterday with a day of prayer and worship. There are 800-something delegates from around the world. About 30% are from Africa, 10% from Europe or Latin America and the rest are from the United States.
They will meet today, tomorrow and Tuesday. I just wanted to reiterate what I said last week, and that is three things about St. Luke’s. One is that we really don’t know what will happen. If I were a handicapper I’m not sure what I’d handicap. But whatever it is we’ll deal with it. I was reading about the history of St. Luke’s just this last week. Next year is our 75^th anniversary by the way - just how many things St. Luke’s had been through over those decades and how we worked through all of them together. We love each other, we’ve prayed together, we’ve grieved together, we’ve celebrated together, we’ve worked side by side. So, these conversations we can have here in the local church because of that. Whatever needs to happen, we’ll do it.
The second thing is that we’ve always been a church that is sort of united in the essentials, experiencing the grace of God, receiving it by faith, putting it to work in love. Inviting people into a saving relationship with Jesus. That’s what we’re about. Those are the essentials and beyond that there is a wide theological spectrum here at St. Luke’s, a wide spectrum or people and what they believe about social issues. And we’ll continue to be that kind of church and we’ll continue to focus on loving and demonstrating Christ’s love to whoever comes in the door. That’s just who we are. We’re the International Red Cross, as I’ve said. We love everybody no matter what team they’re on.
Then here’s the last thing. I believe it’s Providence, though I was going to say it was an accident, but I think it’s Providence. I didn’t plan for us to be sort of unveiling the new language about our vision and mission during this time, but I think it was a good time for us to do that. We have to keep focused on what we were called to do and who we’re called to be. And we’re going to keep talking about a city transformed by the love of Jesus and about our mission to equip people to live and love like Jesus did. That’s going to be our North Star and we’ll keep talking about it.
I invite you to join me in prayer for this General Conference today, tomorrow and Tuesday. Next Sunday I’ll share with you what happened or didn’t happen. If you want to follow along, then go to umc.org and that’s best way to do that. It couldn’t get any easier than that. You can live stream it, there will be articles about decisions that are made throughout those days, and I do hope that you’ll be in prayer about it.
As we look at God’s Word for us today, let’s pray together.
O God, open us up, open our eyes that we might see and our ears that we might hear. Open our hearts, God, that we might feel. And then O Lord, open our hands that we might serve. Amen.
I was preaching at a men’s conference a few weeks ago in Horseshoe Bay. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there but it’s a beautiful place and it’s packed full of retired people. This was a men’s conference.
While I was there I sat down with a fellow who was from San Antonio. There were lots of sessions but there were breaks, and during one of those I met this other fellow, and we were having a cup of coffee. He said to me, “So tell me about your church.”
What would you say if someone asked you that? Would you say, “Well, it’s got a steeple?” Or would you say “Well, I guess that’s technically a spire?” Would you say, “We’re inside the loop on the corner of Westheimer and Edloe?” Would you say, “We are five blocks from Joel Osteen’s place?” That’s what I usually say because everyone knows that. Joel Osteen’s place – so that kind of gives them a point of reference. Would you say, “It’s a big church – or a little church…?”
Well, here’s what I hope is that over the last couple of weeks, these three weeks, as we’ve been looking at our identity, you have developed some language you might use to tell them about your church. That we’re a church that’s striving to bring about a “City transformed by the love of Jesus.” We’re not about us. We’re about our city and the coming city of God.
I hope you might be able to say, “And the way we’re doing that – our mission – is to equip families and individuals to live and love like Jesus.” And a whole movement of people pouring out of our doors into our city, living and loving like Jesus did is how we’re going to bring about this city transformed.
And I hope you might even be able to talk about what we hope happens in each individual Christian’s life as they come to this place, that they find themselves continuing to grow and move forward and progress on their journey, and that journey is to be in closer relationship with Jesus to have their heart transformed, and that they go into the Christian community where they develop real friendships that changes lives, and that they go out into the city to share God’s love with their service and their witness.
You might be able to do at least the first two of those. To be able to talk about who we are is really important. That’s your elevator speech. I hope you’ll work on it. But here’s the deal. Those things are theoretical constructs. They’re pictures, they’re visions and they’re language about who we are aspiring to be, who we’re trying to be, the strategies.
Peter Drucker is a famous management consultant, and he passed away a number of years ago. He had lots of sort of brilliant things to say, but the one that I always remember the most is a very simple sentence where he says, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” In other words, your strategies are nowhere near as important as your culture. An organization’s culture is what you actually do. It’s your actions. It’s your behavior.
Our mission and our vision are our North Star, it’s how we make decisions about ministries we want to take on and where we’re going to focus resources. It’s just to remind us of what we’re about. But the truth is, what matters is what you actually do.
We talk about habits here. We talk about Five Inside Out Habits. “Inside-Out” means how do we change us from inside so that we might change the world outside. We pray, we pray and worship. You might note that we added the words “and worship.” If you didn’t pick up one of these I hope you will, because it has everything on it. And you can see from the vision down we continue to try and get more granular. But at the level of what we actually do, we have these five habits. We pray and worship. We study the Bible, we make friends, we tell our stories, and we give ourselves away in generosity and service.
We call them habits. With a lot of organizations, you’ll hear them talk about mission, vision and values. Values are great, but we believe values need to be put into action. You have to do something, not just think it’s important, you actually have to do it. So, we have habits instead of values.
Now I’d like to think about what the theological undergirdings of these values are. So, if you were going to figure out how to live and love like Jesus, maybe what we could do is go back to the early church to those early followers of Jesus and find out how they lived and loved like Jesus. What was the culture of that early church? What did they actually do? How do we move from being a believer in Jesus to being a follower of Jesus? What did they do?
This passage from Acts 2:42-47 is really pretty famous. I think there’s a whole “Acts 2 Movement” of churches. It’s an important passage. Here’s the context. Just after the resurrection in Luke and Acts. Now Luke and Acts are two volumes of the same work, both written by Luke. Just after the resurrection the disciples…. Wouldn’t you think that after they’d seen Jesus alive among them they’d be on fire? And they’d be telling people and be doing stuff!
That’s not the way it worked. They went back to the upper room and hunkered down for 50 days. They picked a disciple to replace Judas, and they prayed. But they didn’t leave, they didn’t wander out into the streets.
Fifty days after, on the Feast of Pentecost, a Jewish feast, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now their behavior changes pretty dramatically. So, we get this passage in Acts 2 about how they lived together.
Now what I’m going to do today is a little different than before and I’m going to expect you to get out your little Inside-Out Habits Guide and maybe your pencil. If not, just pretend you have a pencil, and maybe move your finger so it looks like you’re paying attention. We’re going to look through this passage verse by verse because I want you to see how it undergirds the Five Habits that we practice here at St. Luke’s.
This is how the early disciples lived; this is how we’re going to live. There’s a test at the end. I’m sending the results to St. Peter, so you might want to pay attention. So, we’re going to go through it verse by verse by verse.
Here’s how it begins, “They devoted themselves…” That’s verse 42, so let’s start there. The word devoted is a great word for what we’re talking about. Devotion is something of the heart, like Olivia Newton-John sings “Totally Devoted ...” I won’t sing it but that’s about her heart. But if I said to you, “He devoted his life to science…” that wouldn’t just mean that he loved science. There’s a disciplined action that goes with devotion. Devotion is both heart and hand, feeling and action. In that little box you can write heart and action. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching….” We study the Bible which is one of our Habits – we study the Bible. But why the apostles’ teaching? First note that if they’re studying the apostles’ teaching that implies that there were more people than just the apostles. They didn’t say, “They studied one another’s teaching.” Now there’s a whole church community and they’re studying the apostles’ teaching. The apostles were the ones who’d actually been with Jesus. They were the ones who’d seen how Jesus lived and loved. And now they’re going to teach others. This is how Jesus lived and loved.
They didn’t have this Bible, but in our Bible, we get the teachings of the apostles. Even Paul was very clear to say, “I am an apostle.” Because he’d had that experience with Jesus on the Damascus Road. He said, “I met him first hand.”
Now I want you to understand one important thing. The most important thing I can do to get you to live and love like Jesus is not just to tell you that this is how Jesus lived and loved. The most important thing I can do is get you to understand what Jesus did for you. For us.
The story of Scripture is the story of a God who loved us so much he gave his Son for us. And over and over in Scripture Jesus says, “I’m going to give to you, now I want you to give to others.” And we can’t give to others unless we have first received.
Let me give you some examples. Jesus says something that you just prayed a moment ago. He said, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We receive forgiveness, and then we pass it on.
Paul says, “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.” Jesus says, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” Do you get it? Until we’re able to receive God’s love we have nothing to give. There’s no way to live and love like Jesus. Until we receive it. And the Scripture is a story of God’s love for us.
Karl Barth, famous theologian, wrote The Word of God, and the Word of Man, the book every seminary student dreads having to study - obtuse, thick, boring. Barth was one who had a really high view of Scripture, and he was asked, “So how would you summarize your book, your teaching?” He said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That’s the message. We have to receive that and then out of that grace, we can live and love like Jesus. We study the Bible.
We’re going to go faster now, so bear with me. “…to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread…” We make friends. To break bread together implied an intimate relationship between two people, between a group of people. Jesus was criticized because he ate with sinners and tax collectors because that implied an intimate relationship. Our habit is that we make friends.
Norman Neaves said something that has stuck with me for a long time. He was the pastor of Church of the Servant in Oklahoma City. He said, “People are not looking for a friendly church.” “What?” But he went on, “People come to church looking for a friend. That’s different.”
We’re not just trying to be a friendly church, where we slap people on the back, glad hand people, be nice to them as they come in the door. Now that’s important but it’s just an entry level. Breaking of bread implies, “Hey, you want to go to lunch? I want to get to know you. Want to get together for dinner one night? How about we have breakfast next week?” That’s beginning to develop a real friendship.
You’re going to see as we go through this community this desire for community more than anything else.
Oh, by the way, John Wesley says that this one wasn’t about friendship. He says that the breaking of bread is about Holy Communion. So, this is also “we pray and worship” if you’re filling in your boxes.
“… to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” That’s what they’re devoted to. We pray and worship. Look, prayer is a keystone habit, if you practice that habit it begins to open up other habits. Why did the early apostles pray? Because Jesus prayed and they’re going to live and love like Jesus. It says in Luke 5:6 that “Jesus would often withdraw to lonely places and prayed.” I wonder if you do that. Do you often “withdraw to a lonely place and pray”?
Now I said I was going to talk about the phrase “...and worship.” We’ve added “and worship.” Why do we do that? “We pray and worship.”
When our leadership put together the five Inside-Out Habits maybe 5 or 6 years ago, we decided that worship was assumed, that everybody knew we worshipped. It was just what we do. That’s our habit. We don’t need to put it in there.
Well, we’ve been looking at our attendance, and apparently everyone doesn’t think that you need to have a habit of worship all the time. We want everyone to realize that worship is an important habit, that it’s a skeleton around which you build your spiritual life - every week – to worship here or watch us on live stream to be a part of that regular worship.
Here’s something interesting. It says here “...and the prayers.” Why do you think it says “…and the prayers” rather than “...and prayers”? Why is there a definite article? There’s a reason for that.
If you’ve ever been to Israel and gone to the Western Wall, you’ll see men walking around. There’s a women’s side, too, and there’s a curtain. They didn’t used to have a women’s side at all. But on the men’s side the men walk around and they’re kind of shouting. I asked our guide, “What are they doing?” He said, “They’re trying to gather a minion.” Now a minion is a quorum for a worship service. The Scripture required that they have ten men in order to have a worship service. So, they’re gathering people. They’re saying, “Hey, gather around. I need a minion.” When they get ten people together you’ll see that the men will line up in two or three lines, and they’ll face the wall. They’ll rock, and they’ll say “...the prayers.” That’s what worship was like, saying these prayers. That’s how they worshipped.
It says, “they devoted themselves to the prayers,” since these were Jews they practiced Jewish worship and so they were saying, “...the prayers.”
When it says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.” We give ourselves away in generosity and service.
Awe came on everyone not because they prayed, awe came on everyone not because they had a great community. Awe came on everyone not because they studied the Bible. Awe came on everyone because they made a difference in the world around them. Because they changed many lives. “Many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”
My uncle was a Methodist pastor and when he was a young man he went to hear Albert Schweitzer teach. Albert Schweitzer was on a tour of the United States and he wanted to go hear him. Now, Albert Schweitzer was a theologian, but he was not very orthodox. He was one of the first “Quest for the historical Jesus” teachers. He had this sort of mystical view of Jesus as this mystical rabbi. He didn’t believe at all in the theories of the atonement.
So, my uncle went to see him, and while Schweitzer was teaching he’s thinking, “This guy’s full of baloney! Why is he considered so famous and amazing?” Then at the end of the speech Schweitzer said, “I want to talk to you about my hospital in Lambarene.” That’s in Africa, and he talked about the number of people who were being healed and experiencing healing there and the teaching they were doing and the transformation in their community. As he finished he said, “Would any of you like to come with me and work with me in my hospital?”
You see, that’s what brings awe. It’s not what we say, it’s what we do. It brings the transformation to the world around us.
“Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles…” They were so filled with the Spirit of God. “All who believed were together and had all things in common…” That’s community – we make friends “...they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceedsto all, as any had need.” They gave themselves away in service and generosity, which is our fifth habit.
Look, community is a tangible thing, being in community, making friends with each other, that’s all swell. But real community says, “Hey, can I keep your children while you go to the hospital to be with your mom?” Real community says, “Can we cook for your family?” Real community says, “Hey, you got flooded in Hurricane Harvey – why don’t you come live with us while your house is being restored?” It’s tangible.
They didn’t just do it for people within the church. They did it for people outside the church. In fact, the Romans were so upset because they said that “they care not only for their own poor but for ours as well.” They give themselves away.
“Day by day, as they spent much time together …” We make friends. “.. in the temple…” We pray and worship. “…they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generoushearts…” More community. We make friends. Do you see how community keeps getting hammered over and over? “…praising God…” We pray and worship. “… and having the goodwill of all the people….”
All right, I’ve got to push this one a little bit. Why did they have the goodwill of all the people? If you read verses 42 through 47 you don’t see a lot in this passage of them telling their stories. But if you read Acts 2-4, just the whole section and not just these few verses, it’s mostly them telling their stories. It’s mostly them preaching the Word. It’s mostly about what God has done in their lives. And in fact, in Chapter 4 here’s what it says where they were talking so much that the authorities said, “We have to tell these people to be quiet. They’re creating a ruckus.”
Acts 4:19-20 says, “But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge;for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’” He was saying, “We can’t be quiet” – they told their stories.
“And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
John Wesley calls these disciplines, these habits, “means of grace.” What he means is that it’s God who’s adding to the number. It’s God who’s doing the saving, not us. When we practice these habits, we are opening the door for God to work though us to bring transformation.
We live in a time when it seems that what is important is what we say about something. Do you have a statement about that? I get asked that all the time. Do you have a statement about that? You like something on Facebook or Twitter and that’s your way of saying, “I’m on this team, not that team. I wear this jersey. I agree with these people.” And somehow, we feel like we’ve done something because you push a little button “like” or you write up a nice statement.
Don’t misunderstand me, I believe words matter. Yes, words matter. After all, I make my living this way. I make my living with words and of course, words matter. But at some point, we have to move beyond making the statement. I like to say we keep wanting to focus on making a difference, not on making a point. Words have power when they’re accompanied by actions, when a vision is realized by habits.
A few years ago, I was in the lobby of the church on a weekday and a woman came in with a stroller and a couple of kids. I thought she was there to sign up for the Day School and she was. She stood by our rack of brochures, so I can tell she’s a visitor. I said, “Hello, can I help you?” She said, “I’m here to sign up for the Day School.” I said, “I’m the pastor here …” Then we visited. But then she said, “So what do you all do here?”
Isn’t that an interesting way to ask the question? “What do you all do here?” I was kind of stunned and I tried get my head together. But I was sure glad I had an answer. “We pray…” Now I’d say, “Pray and worship.” Then I went on, “We study the Bible, we make friends, we tell our stories, we give ourselves away in generosity and service.”
Also, so we can learn to live and love like Jesus and equip others to do the same so that one day the world, the city, will be transformed by the love of Jesus.
Gracious God, we look at the culture of that early church, those disciples, that incredible community that was so life-changing for them. And we see how they lived, God, as they imitated or emulated you in the way your son lived. God, we pray that we might move beyond our words to our actions, and that we might practice these habits in such a way that we move forward on our journeys to live and love more like you. In the name of Christ, Amen.