Open them to Acts chapter 2. We'll be looking at verses 42 to 47, yet once again, a brief review, and then hopefully getting through what to look for in choosing a church. This is the Word of God. 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. Every day 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." We began by asking a number of questions last week, which I repeat for your benefit. What makes a church a church and not a para-church? How is the church different from university Christian fellowship, Campus Crusade, Salvation Army? How is the church different from home Bible study or a seminary? How do you choose a church? What emphases, preferences, ought to be priorities? And we noted that in Acts here in this text, we have a record of the signs of a healthy, spirit-filled church. And we noted that we were considering this for the purpose of understanding the true nature of a church and her marks, and that it also served a variety of other purposes. If people were to transfer to other churches, they would have an idea of what to look for. If people were to move to other areas of the country, they would know what to look for. There are guidelines here so that you can advise friends and family. Many times over the years, I have somebody in a congregation come to me and say, hey, I had somebody come and ask me, what ought I to look for in a church? advising a family in looking for a church. Of course, this sets forth the biblical ideal by which we ought to measure ourselves, and we'll do a little bit of that this afternoon. It's instructive for those who go on vacation that you ought to look for a church. like this, with these characteristics, and then, of course, there are people in our congregation who are considering membership. So that is instructive in how to choose a church. What should we look for? A number of things, and we only began last week. First of all, in verse 42, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. The first thing would be devotion to apostolic teaching. The first priority, the most foundational trait for any God-honoring church, and the first preference for any God-honoring Christian ought to be the teaching and preaching of a church. Now, there are many things that people look for when they look for a church, and not all of them are bad, of course. Some of them may be frivolous or trite, be that as it may, the first thing, no matter what other things you are considering, the first thing, the thing of most importance, is devotion to apostolic teaching. That is the teaching of the scriptures. Teaching and preaching is the most important priority. We noted, as we looked at this, a number of things. First of all, if you look at Peter's sermon in Acts chapter 2, Verse 17 and following is a citation of Scripture, and an explanation and application of that. Same thing, verse 25 and following, and then also down in verse 34 and 35. The idea being is that what characterizes the teaching and preaching is that it's biblical, and it's what's called expository. Expository preaching is simply an explanation of the text of Scripture, an application of the text of Scripture. That is not always the case, all right? So, very important. Secondly, verse 22, Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost here. And though he's preaching on the day of Pentecost, which is the occasion on which the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church, we see that Peter's sermon is not about the Holy Spirit. Peter's sermon is about Christ. And therefore, preaching and teaching should be Christ-centered. All right? Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man, etc., etc. Verse 22 and 23. was a man accredited by God to you. Verse 23, this man was handed over to you. Verse 33, exalted to the right hand of God, he has poured out what you now see and hear. And verse 36, therefore let all Israel be assured of this, God made this Jesus whom you crucified. That is, you listen to a lot of preachers today, it sounds like they've got a mouse in their pocket. We, we, we, we. No, preaching is second person. You, you. God is speaking to people, all right? Certainly, the preacher has to have that sermon preached to himself before he preaches it to others. It ought to be something that has been applied to his own heart. But when a man stands up to preach, that second person ought to be prominent. You. That is specific and personal application. It's a very important difference between a lecture and a sermon. Verse 22. Again, another thing, men of Israel listened to this. It was authoritative. Somebody wasn't getting up and sharing. Somebody wasn't getting up and giving their opinion. They were preaching, listen to this. God has something to say to you. Look at verse 37 and following. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said, brothers, what shall we do? I hope everybody here at some point hears somebody ask them that question. What must I do to be saved? Brothers, what shall we do? What's the point? The point is this was purposeful preaching. It was a sermon designed to persuade, to produce an effect, to incite action in response to the truth. It wasn't an opinion, it wasn't entertainment, this wasn't a social club, but it was to learn what to think and how to act in a manner that was glorifying to God. And please notice, alright, this was not an end in itself. Very important for those of us in Reformed churches, all right? And listening to this, where the emphasis is on the intellectual and on the cerebral. We were talking just prior to, in new members' class, the importance of thinking and the importance of the mind in the Bible. Very important, all right? But preaching should never, never be simply to fill up the Rolodex cards in your brain. It should always be unto another end, and that is to go out into the world and to serve God, to glorify and enjoy God in one's daily life, so that you take what you receive and you put it into practice out there. It's not as if we're just a bunch of disembodied brains sitting here adding to our information banks and growing in knowledge. No, we should be able to put those things into practice when we go out from the church Monday through Saturday. Now, if I'm not mistaken, that's where we left off last time, alright? So, secondly, what ought you to look for? That's all under preaching and teaching devoted to the Apostles' teaching. Secondly, verse 43, everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles, alright? The point here is not miracles and signs, okay? Brief explanation, because I've explained this many times in various places. Signs and wonders were done, and they served a particular purpose for a particular time. That is, they were signs and wonders that attested to somebody being an apostle, or a sent one, which is what apostolos means. That is sent by the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ to make known His good news, His gospel. There are no more apostles, and there are no more signs and wonders that testify that somebody is an apostle. Well, what's the point of bringing this up then? Well, everyone was filled with awe. That is, there was a God-centered focus. And in choosing a church, this is a very important thing. We were discussing in New Members' Class the difference between being man-centered and being God-centered. Alright? Being man-centered and being God-centered. Here, there is a God-centered focus. A solemn recognition of the presence of a holy and loving God. Everybody was filled with awe. There was continual worship and praise. Look at verse 46. Notice this. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. Every day. That's why I get a joke out of people saying, oh, you know, we had somebody here not long ago, and they said, boy, you mean you spend seven hours together? I can't do that on Sunday. I don't have seven hours to spend in church. Well, here are people every day. Every day. They were a church, alright? Every day, continually praising and worshiping God. It's very interesting that in times of revival, and certainly on the day of Pentecost we would have characterized that as a revival, this is exactly what happened. John Calvin used to preach every day. Every day. That's why he got all these commentaries, right? Because, you know, he preached every day. Died young, but he preached every day. And he had five secretaries, alright? Taking down all notes, one thing or the other. But in Korea, when Christianity broke out in Korea, this same thing. And down to this day, Sam can tell you the Korean Christian students at Westminster Seminary are very pious and devout. In Korea, people are up at three and four in the morning to go to church to listen to two or three hour sermons before they go to work. And they do that every day. You see this a lot in Pentecostal churches, which many of you have been in, in the past, where people are at church every day. Now, we've noted downsides to that, and that's why this is not normative. But what ought to be normative, you see, is a God-centered focus in the church. A God-centered focus is what one ought to look for in a church. Commentator says, that principle must be true of a church as well. The attitude governing its ministries and communicated to its people must be one of awe toward God. That means he, God, must be taken very seriously. And it also means that he must be preeminent in everything that happens in the church. Only then can a local body be truly God-centered like the one at Jerusalem. The leaders and members of a church must realize that it does not exist primarily for the benefit of man, but for the glory of God and his son, Jesus Christ. All things exist primarily for the glory of God, rather than for our benefit. And that includes the church, which was created predominantly for his honor and not for our happiness. I get a kick out of people talking about usually with respect to their relationships. Oh, I'm not happy anymore. And then it's like, What's that got to do with it? God wants you to be holy, not happy. You see? We've got this screwed up. We've got man-centered as opposed to God-centered. Very interesting. Let me slow down here a little bit. The first purpose of a church's existence is to worship God. It is that for which we were created, and it is that for which we were redeemed. The chief end of man, Westminster Shorter Catechism, aptly reflecting scripture says is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. It is that for which we were created, and it is that for which we were redeemed. Just look at a few passages with me. Look at Exodus chapter 7. Exodus, of course, is the great Old Testament model or paradigm for salvation or redemption in the Bible. It's found here, Exodus 7, verse 16. Moses sent by God to Pharaoh, right? Then say to him, the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you, let my people go. Now, most of us know this today because we're contemporaries from Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, and that certainly had its application and its time in that particular place. However, notice that that was really taken out of context here because this is about worship. Let my people go so that they may worship me. The Exodus was a worship movement. It was a worship movement. Look at chapter 8, verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, go to Pharaoh and say to him, this is what the Lord says, let My people go so that they may worship Me." Verse 21. Verse 21. If you do not let My people go, well, I messed that up. Look at 9, verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, go to Pharaoh and say to him, this is what the Lord says, the God of the Hebrews says, let My people go so that they may worship Me. Down verse 13, you find it again. Let My people go so that they may worship Me. Chapter 10, verse 3, you've got it again. Let My people go so that they may worship Me. And verse 7, Pharaoh's officials said to him, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Now, this is what Peter picks up on in the New Testament. Look at 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2.9, now speaking to the church, which is the new Israel. 1 Peter 2.9, But you, same designations here, are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, now you have received mercy. What's the point? The reason why you were redeemed, the reason why you were saved, the reason why you were rescued, is to worship God. This is why there should almost always be nothing that keeps you from being in church to worship God. Here's the general rule. If you would take off from work, if you're that sick to take off from work, then stay home from church. But for any other reason, unless you would miss work for whatever reason it is, you should not miss worship. Because that's what you were saved for, you see. And worship, how a church worships, what goes on in worship, a radical God-centered focus is something that should be considered when choosing a church. Look at 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14. Last one, then we'll move on. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 24. 1 Corinthians 10 through 1 Corinthians 14 is dealing with matters, subjects having to do with worship in the Corinthian church. Remember that church was a real mess and Paul's trying to straighten them out there. Verse 24, but if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner. and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So we will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, God is really among you. That's how God-centered a church should be, is that it's obvious to anybody that walks in, God is really among you. In the singing, in the preaching, in what goes on. We were talking about a lot of this in new members class, so I'm struggling not to repeat that. But that God is really among you, you see. That it's God-centered. Many times over the course of the years that we've been here, people have come and have not been comfortable. Either because they're used to a different style of worship, or it's just an uneasy feeling that they have. You have to be very careful in dealing with that. On the one hand, you want to be warm and welcoming to people and make them feel at home and welcome. On the other hand, when you realize what's going on in worship, people should be somewhat uncomfortable. They didn't walk into the neighborhood bar. They're not in the social club. They haven't gone to the beach. They're in the presence of a thrice holy God who's a consuming fire. We were talking in new members class about how in worship we're actually lifted to heaven. Now, that's not something common. And if that's the experience, then people should feel a little bit uncomfortable. There are thousands upon thousands of angels in Joyful Assembly here right now. Right now. Yeah. So God-centered focus. All right, let's move on. Back to Acts chapter 2. Third thing. First thing, devotion to apostolic teaching. Second, God-centered focus. Third, administration of the sacraments. Verse 41. Those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. Verse 42, they devoted themselves to the apostle teaching fellowship to the breaking of bread. All right. I take that as a reference to the Lord's prayer. Verse 46, they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. That is the Lord's supper. So the administration of the sacraments Is there a proper administration of the sacraments in a church? Very important. These are the signs and seals of God's covenant. Fourthly, discipline by elders. Discipline by elders. Look at Acts chapter 5. Turn over to Acts 5. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold the piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet." Now you know what happened here, right? Everybody know the story? They're convicted of lying to the Holy Spirit, and God strikes them dead. Alright? This is discipline. This is discipline. Okay? This is the Lord's discipline. Look at Acts 20. Acts 20. Verse 28. Acts 20. Verse 28. Watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, be shepherds of the church of God which he brought with his own blood. I know that after I leave savage wolves will come out among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears." That is, What Paul's saying, he's giving a farewell to the Ephesian elders. He's saying, you have to be on your guard. You have to exercise discipline. There are going to be people that come that are going to be false teachers. All right? Now, what you have here, I trust you can see, are the marks of the church. Preaching, sacraments, and discipline. All right? These are what you find in the New Testament. And as we've been reading in the front of our bulletin for some weeks, this is what distinguishes a true church from a false church. All right? So when you're choosing a church, you have to look for something that the Bible sets forth as signposts or indicators of that which is a true church. Right? Faithful preaching of the gospel, administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of Christian discipline. Let me just pause for a second here and slow down. I realize that for many people, church discipline is something you've never heard of before. Church discipline is that practice conducted by the elders of a church with respect to her members in order to separate sinners from their sin. Not to separate people from the church, but to separate sinners from their sin. That is, to impress upon people the seriousness of either what somebody believes or how somebody behaves. And that that is in need of repentance. That is, you must change that belief or you must change that behavior. And there are various steps in discipline. The first is private. Then there's the announcing of the name of a person in order that people might pray and talk to that person. And if the person still refuses to repent, Matthew 18, Jesus says, tell it to the church. All right? And if he refuses to repent, then they're put out of the church. Why? Again, to impress upon them the seriousness of their sin that they will repent. Okay? The sin will be separated from the sinner. and that they would be restored to fellowship. And the purposes for church discipline are the purity of the church. Alright? The church has to be kept pure. Why? Because we are to be holy as the Lord our God is holy. And the church has to be a group of forgiven sinners that are living according to the Word of God. And if we're not going to live according to the Word of God, then you have to tell somebody, you're not living like a Christian, you can no longer call yourself a Christian. So, the purity of the church, the reclamation of the sinner, we already talked about, to reclaim them, restore them to fellowship, separate the sin from the sinner, and the glory of God, that God would be glorified amongst His people. So that's church discipline, alright? Now, you see these three marks? We began by asking, what makes a church a church and not a Bible study? What makes a church a church and not the Salvation Army or not Campus Crusade? Well, because you don't have discipline in those groups. You don't have sacraments in the Salvation Army, for example. Some college ministries play around with the sacraments, but they're really not, and they shouldn't do that. But these are the things that mark a church, you see, and distinguish the church from all those things that are not a church. All right, fifthly, it's into the conclusion here. Back to Acts chapter 2, fellowship. Fellowship. Acts chapter 2, verse 42. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship. Verse 44. All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Fellowship in worship and in mutual concern. Why is this important? Because it evidences the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. A church where people look out for each other, care deeply for people and for each other. Remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13? If you talk in tongues, you do all this stuff, you give to the poor, you take... But if you don't have love, then you're just a clanging cymbal and a resounding gong. It's a very important fellowship, alright? And then lastly, verse 40 and with verse 47. With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. And verse 47, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Evangelistic outreach. Evangelistic outreach. The church is the only, this is, I'm going to say this, but I don't really believe it. The church is the only institution that exists for the sake of its non-members. All right? That is, we're here to reach the lost. And a church, a good church, should be engaged in evangelistic outreach. So what do you have? Devotion, tapestolic teaching, preaching, God-centered focus, administration of the sacraments, discipline by elders, fellowship in worship and mutual concern, and evangelistic outreach. And let's just conclude by using these as a criteria to examine ourselves. We set forth a biblical standard, and it's very easy to point fingers at others, but let's point fingers at ourselves for a few brief moments. What about devotion to apostolic teaching and preaching? I think that at least in terms of what is provided and supplied, that's pretty good, but that's not what's being talked about here. It's talked about how it's received. Very important, at the time of the Reformation, All right. There was as much emphasis on hearing the word as there was on preaching the word. That is, how is it received? How is it received? Not just is there faithful Bible exposition and application, but is it received as the word of God? Is there devotion to that you see? All right. So you don't want to have a mouse in my pocket. You need to know what you believe and why you believe it. And there are many here that need to make progress in this area. All right? And again, this is not by way of condemnation. This is education, edification. That this is an area where many could grow in. What do you believe and why do you believe it? All right? to know your way around the Scriptures, to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, to have a good grip on this Bible. Okay? Devote yourself to apostolic teaching and preaching. God-centered focus. God-centered focus. Continual worship and praise. Daily worship. This series is not all about second service, but second service would be a good thing is that people are interested, excited and interested in being in worship as opposed to someplace or something or somewhere else. Administration of the sacraments, pretty good. I think we're pretty good in that area. When it comes to discipline, there is the exercise of discipline in this congregation. Fellowship, it's right in our name. We try to emphasize that. I commend you because I think almost everybody, if not everybody, that comes to this congregation talks about how warmly they're received and you're to be commended for that. That's a great thing. There are multiple churches that I've visited and I'm sure that you visited as well, either around the city or around the country where you can go in and you can sit through a worship service and you could leave afterwards and there'd be hardly a handful of people that would have said hello to you. So I think this is a strong area and we're trying to improve it even more with the recent series on one another and other things. and evangelistic outreach. We could be better in this area. I believe you could be better. We are going to have a Sunday school class coming up in order to promote a more organic approach to evangelism. But this is very important. It is the outward face of our congregation. We have an upward face, worshiping God. We have an inward face, fellowship. Those areas are pretty strong. Outward face, to look out for the lost, to be concerned, to have the heart of God for those that are without God and without hope in the world. These are things we should pray. You should pray and strive for more and more. So that's it. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for this church, about which we read in the book of Acts, and ask that you would help us to grow as a church in greater faithfulness and devotion to you, that we might manifest all these characteristics amongst ourselves. We ask it for the sake of the head of the church, even Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Let's sing in response, 425, Jesus, lover...