Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
worship Call 1170 The heart of the Church - 2024/10/30
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> Welcome to worship call with Bible teacher Buzz Laubek. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse by verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. From A.W. Tozer, pursuing God, entitled human philosophy, not human psychology. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty 1 Corinthians 124 or 127. To meet the kind of temptations the enemies confronting us in this world, it is not enough for us to stick out our chins, inflate our chests, and mutter in the old reframe, never say die. Since I have been a Christian, I have had a negative reaction to that kind of human psychology. I don't mind saying that my favorite hymn, I don't mind saying that my favorite hymns are not those that exhort me to flex my biceps and tell the world where to get off. That is not philosophy because it would put my confidence in the wrong place. In my faith, my belief, my confidence are in myself, and they cannot, at the same time, be resting in God. The Bible tells us to believe in God and put our trust in Him. It warns us against having any confidence in the flesh. So, I do not want some voice exhorting me to me, rise up, O man of God, go forth to face the foe, and all that. I would rather go to a place of prayer, meet God there, and then let Him face the world for me. We rest our case completely on God, then our experiences proceed by faith. Through faith and in faith, our victory must be God's victory. This is the fourth day of the week in God's created order. The 30th day of the 10th month, 2024th year of our Lord and this is another fine day in the Lord. Father in Heaven, thank You for it. We praise You. We lift up our hearts to You this morning. We understand that it is not human psychology, psychology, physiology, or any of the other other ologies that there is, but it is our theology. It is our knowing V. It is our walking with the. It is the person which we walk with that we have our complete confidence in. We thank You Heavenly Father this morning. We thank You for our study. Open up our hearts and our eyes to understanding Heavenly Father, our place in the church today. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right, this is coming off as we continue on in our Book of Acts and we are in Acts. Let's see, we are coming in to 4.32, Acts 4.32, and this is coming off of the heels of a great victory. We are going to find throughout all of history that persecution will bring a revival. For some reason another persecution always brought a revival myth to the church. Church is young, so there is not much of a revival myth here, but a reviving. But normally in a lukewarm church or churches that are just going about the motions, the one thing that will bring that church to life, revival, it is funny, it is not a get together, a sing along or what we call revival. You know about church revivals, you know, coming together and everybody singing and everybody loving each other and reviving the church in that way. Normally revival comes from persecution and motivation coming out of that because nothing that stimulates and motivates as much as does a victory. And when there is a victory, there is, and we find a great victory here. We find that Peter and John coming in and it wasn't about Peter and John, it was about the spirit because it's a spirit that the talking in there, but it demonstrated the power of the spirit, the hoots baw that these two had before them, and they were released. And this was just a shot about the one thing about testing, this was the test of the local church, and it's going to, the testing is going to increase. Whether we're talking about your personal life or whether we're talking about the life of the church, it's going to progress further. The testing is going to get more severe, and with each testing, there must be, okay, what did we learn from it? Okay, did we grow from it? Could we've done something better? How did we fail and regroup, and where there is a passing of the test, or even the time? It prepares those smaller tests, and this was a small test, remember that this was an inquisition, this was brought in, they were sent before the trial, and they were released, yes, but it was only a preparation for something greater. And where there is a victory, whether it's a personal spiritual victory or in a believer's life, or whether there is a victory within the church, and here's a victory of the church, there's going to be a product that comes out of it, there's going to be a response that comes out of it, a positive response, and here goes the response, positive response coming into verse 32. And the congregation of those who believed were one of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power, the apostles were given testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and abundance grace upon them all. And let's stop right there, it sounds like communism, or the early church was a communal church. It was a body of believers, and they had come together and they were selling their property, they were given to the church, not just a church, but that was to fulfill the needs of those within that local church, that local congregation. And this does sound like communism, it does sound like a sort of socialism, but there's a difference here. First of all, this is the response to the Word of God, this is a response to the victory, it's a response to the Word of God, it's a response to the resurrected Christ, where Christ, because not only was it about the resurrection, but it's about everything that Jesus taught leading up to the resurrection. The resurrection was a, and Jesus spoke about the resurrection, he taught about the resurrection, that he must go and to do the impossible, to be the one who, this humble carpenter son, said he was going to die at criminal's death, and three days he's going to rise up again. Now, if somebody like that, if somebody had Tim, let's say Tim, or let's say you go before me, and you've had a lot of things to say, and a lot of things to teach me, and a lot of things, and I did, let's say you went before me, and I did your funeral, and all of a sudden there you are the next day, and there you are three days later, you're up and about, you think I'm going to believe everything else you said to, you bet you, and this was the case with Jesus, they saw him die, they saw him on the cross, he was a tomb, and now three days later he, and on words he's alive and up, they're going to listen to what he has to say, and so the words of Jesus echoed from what he had said in the past, and he said that rich young ruler, the words echoed, and the things that the apostles taught, yeah, Jesus, I remember that town Jesus taught, and then this, rich young ruler came, and he said he wanted to follow Jesus, and what is it to have eternal life, and Jesus said, sell everything that you own, and come and follow me, and he said I couldn't do that, well, there was a response there, and there was the other teachings as well, one must become the least, and these things reflect, these things, here is the resurrected Christ, and they want to hang on to the words, they responded to the word of God, what's the difference between the communism and socialism? Communism and socialism tells the people, they tell the people, okay, they are the orchestrator, they are the confiscate wealth, whether you want to give it or not, it's theirs, and while they are patting their pocket, everybody gives it a little bit, well, they get a lot, and then government becomes your God, and the socialistic society government is the God. Here, nobody was telling these people to do this, all the apostles were doing was sharing the word of God, and they were responding to it, our spiritual life must be a response, not a got to do, but a get to do. A free will is so important to the Christian, because the free will and the volition gives the opportunity to respond to all that God is, his word and his love, his grace and his mercy. So everybody, so with the early church was more than just coming together, it was much more than just coming together and singing a few hymns and hearing the sermon and then having a check-off and then going about your way. This was a communal, this was a society within a society, I think that's the best way to put it, a society within a society, and you had a group of people in a church, and this was the church so important, and that I've learned that, again, the principle is that it's not just about Bible doctrine, it's not just about teaching of the word of God. That is the most important thing that a church is going to do, mind you, the most important thing, without it you do not have a church, you have a, I don't know what you've got, you've got some type of community there, but a church has to be on the foundation of the word of God. The most important thing that takes place within the word of God is, and the church is the learning is, because without it you have nothing to respond to. All right, so, but it's not the only thing. The pastor is not all to the church and that's it. Every member of that church has a place. Every member of that church who is a Christian has a spiritual gift that operates within that local church. A gift of helps, gifts of encouragement, gifts of giving, and all this was within that communal society took care of one another. So, it was a living church and all had something to offer. And at least even the less given one, even the less, the least of them. Maybe even the one who gave the less still had a part within that society and was still treated with grace and mercy. And with great power, the apostles were given testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. An abundant grace was upon them all. The resurrection, again, as I've stated earlier, was the motivation of the attitudes of the believers. First of all, Jesus did arise and because Jesus rose, then it gave them hope that there's going to be another resurrection and they are going to be a part of it. And being that there is another resurrection, there's going to be a time when we and our new bodies will stand before our Lord Jesus Christ. And we would want to give a good report, the power, and with great power, and the great power is due to us. And due to us is the potentiality to exert force in performing some function or power. And within that teaching, within that, it offered great encouragement. I should bring that up a little bit back, that's okay. We'll make it a little bigger. There we go. So the power would be within that church, as it would be with individual believers. The power would be the Holy Spirit. Two powers for the believers would be the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, both operating systems. Without the Word of God, then the Spirit would be, I'd hate to say, charismatic, I might say. So the Spirit without the Word of God, without the teaching of the Word of God, would be charismatic, or you might call the Holy Roller kind of syndrome. There is no direction. And then a Word of God without the Spirit would just make you academic arrogance and eggheads. So this power does not come and go as the Spirit would dictate. Each of the Spirit, each of the individuals, under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, brings the Spirit with them. So it's like the pastor who says, "Oh, I can just, oh, this room is just filled with the Spirit." And such a sense that the Holy Spirit decided that particular day to pay a visit to this local church. No, each one of us, again, another importance of our spiritual life, you see, as individuals, having the spiritual life, we bring the Spirit to the church because we are involved with the Spirit. And the Spirit-filled congregation is the members who are filled with the Spirit, who's operating under the ministry of the Spirit. That's what builds the church. It is the Holy Spirit that is an operation of each individual member of the church. So the congregation may reflect an individual as an individual can suppress and grieve the Holy Spirit, so can the congregation when there is allowed to be a root of bitterness that's spread within that congregation. This is a responsibility of the pastor and the church's leadership to protect that church from the bitterness that may come in and to get in there at times to have to intervene in several accounts. This is another reason why we have Matthew 18, the church discipline, because the wolves can get in, and the wolves can come in and sow bitterness and anger and cause dissension, and that church can well implode from within. See, whereas a church can be protected from outside from its enemies and stand boldly. There have been many churches that, and maybe it's with all churches, before the outside can destroy the inside. The inside is destroyed from the inside from that bitterness. It starts with suppressing and grieving the Holy Spirit from the congregation. Where was it? Let no root of bitterness. I think it's either. Collation of Hebrew. Let no root of bitterness spring up, which spoils the whole body. That has more to do with the church and just the individual. So here it is, we're talking about the congregation, the importance of the congregation, and that's just the one thing I want to get across today. The importance of the assembling, I know it is in Hebrews, that talks about the assembly of believers. I have become, because of Acts really, of my study in Acts, I've become a strong advocate in the assembling together. Yes, and I said earlier that what we do, like worship call in the morning, it's supplemental, it's not church. And the church is a body of believers that come together with varying spiritual gifts that complement one another. The assembling is part of the local church, and it is important. Today, as it was with the beginning of the church age, and while we can be blessed by good teaching through technology, I'm thankful for the things I learn on the internet. I'm thankful for a worship call in the morning that we can come together. I'm thankful that I can go down the road, I can listen to good preaching. But it does not take the place of assembling together with other believers, because you have something to offer. Every member of the congregation has something to offer to one another. And it's important to the part of the church community. We must be, though, the Satan would love nothing more than to separate us in our own individual houses and homes, where we can conveniently listen to a tape, or an mp3, or listen to the internet, and we don't have to be bothered by the local church. And forget about the excuses that a church is full of hypocrites. And even if the pastor isn't quite as doctrinal and as teaching as you would like him to be, well, there's always a supplement study you can do at home with one another, small groups, as it were, and go from there. So I'm not saying that we must sell all our possessions. They're not saying that we must all sell our possessions and give to the church. But if the spirit leads a person, if the spirit leads you, it's, once again, the freedom of the priesthood, the privacy and the freedom of the priesthood. You must be free to do what the spirit leads you to do. Can you be rich? Can you hang on to your possessions and still be a productive church member? Absolutely. So the point is that there is spiritual freedom to respond to God's word and to spirit, and to do so without really cool, or chastisement, or embarrassment. Not somebody stick their nose in and say, "Well, it'd be a Christian. You ought to be doing this. You ought to be selling your property." Nobody was telling nobody what to do in this case, as far as I know, as far as it was recorded. They were doing it. Because when you start brow-beating people, then the question comes down to the point where did you do it? And this is the important thing. Did you do it? Or the right motivation? Another very important thing. Some of these people will stand, some of these people will stand before the bay month, before the judgment seat of God, to give a well-done, good and faithful servant. Because this person sold all that they had and gave it to their church. And it's not because of that, but it was a response to where God, and then you'll have someone else. And that would be gold, silver, precious stones. They would be rewarded. You've got another person who did the same exact thing, like Anasah, Ananias, and Savaya, which we'll talk about. Who done? Well, they didn't do it, but somebody else could sell everything that they own and gave it all to the church. And it might be wood, hay, and stubble because they did it with the wrong motivation. They did it for other people to look at them, to say, "Wow, what a good Christian you are." So these two believers can do the same exact thing. One would be rewarded and one won't. Because it's not about what you did. It is about the heart. So they weren't being browbeat. They were responding to the message of Christ, the resurrected Christ, the love of Christ, and it was done in grace. And abundant grace was upon them all, the community. The all is the community, the church community there. All within the body was cared for. And those that gave little were not withheld from being treated less. They weren't looked down upon, nor were they treated less. They were treated with grace. Others who gave much, they weren't those that gave much. Those who had much who gave much, who gave more than everybody else because they had it. They weren't held at a higher esteem than this poor guy over here who didn't have nothing to give except for a few pence. He was treated with the same respect and the same love and the same thankfulness as the one who gave much. All of them were treated with that respect and with that grace. So for there was not a needy person among them. The church took care of its own. And the idea of giving wasn't to give, the church, the idea of giving within the church wasn't to give to the local community and to the poor and to all that. Now will there be a place for that? Yes, there is a place for that. But I'll give you an example here. Robert and Pastor King would tell me about people would come up to the church and they would expect the church to feed them, to close them. I can't pay my electric bill. They would, they would, they want the church to take care of their needs. They were not part of congregation and Robert would invite them in and let's talk about your spiritual life. Let's talk about where you're at, which, which, you know, let's talk about the Word of God, you know, let's come on in. No, I don't want none of that. He would have that. So you're supposed to take care of my needs. Your church is supposed to take care of my needs. And, and Robert, you know, Pastor, Pastor King would say it don't work like that. And the guy would go away cussing them out and, and going on down the street, said, don't look at that. We don't, the church took care of its needs within that first. It was the primary, primary objective to take care of, and nobody within that church was in need. And what was left would be for the outreach. And the outreach didn't go out without taking out the Word of God. It, the outreach came, the outreach came out. Now this set, this set the church apart in a couple ways. You know, in Israel, in Israel when, what the Exodus, the people would, when the people went out, who, how, how were the people taken care of in the wilderness? God took care of them. God gave, God gave them shoes that never wore out, clothes that never wore out. He fed a man of him, he gave him water. God sustained their logistical grace and it was, and it was out. And, and they could all attest that God did this. There's miracle after miracle after miracle. But something's, and they were set apart from the rest of the world. The Israelites were always, and still they are, set apart from the rest of the world. The church is different. The church is, the church is the same, and it's the different. First of all, the church is echosia. It's set apart. It's called out of the world. It's a society within the world. It's set apart from the world. But not through the miracles, not in miracles. And the early church was, was necessary. But, but there's something different. The Lord said, the Lord showed them how he took care of his people. He said, now he gives them the opportunity to be a part and to work in their medical, their partners. So, it wasn't just miracles. It's easier for God to perform the miracle and take care of everything. But, God withholds the miracles. That's why we don't see in our time. There are miracles that still happen, but within the church, the church comes together. And people can respond through grace giving, and God will provide the seed for the giving. And he gives us the opportunity to care for one another within that local body. And to reflect, being Christ's light, through our love and through our giving. And I'll close it off with 2 Corinthians 9-7 here. Each one must do just as purpose in his heart, not gradually, or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having the sufficiency for everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. So, it is the Lord. As it is written, he scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, the righteousness endures forever. His righteousness. Yes, his righteousness. So, it is the response God gives. And the body is set apart. The body of Christ is set apart from the rest of the world. And this is what set them apart. And others said, "I want to be that. I want to be like that." All right, that's it for this morning. Love you all. Let's close it out in prayer. Father, in heaven, we thank you for this opportunity of fellowshiping your words this morning. We pray, heavenly Father, that open up our hearts and our own response. Let us open our eyes as we truly are. And is it the word of God? Is it the message of the resurrection that's lifting our hearts to respond in such a wonderful way to be those individuals and churches that are set apart from the rest of the world? And I pray, heavenly Father, for our churches all across the land. I pray for a revival. I pray for getting back to a model by which the church community used to function. I pray for the word of God to be once again preached from the pulpits. And I pray, heavenly Father, that the pews will soon be filled back up again with those that are sporting one another within the community. This world is getting dark. And we need one another, heavenly Father, to come together as a body, to support, to encourage, to lift up, and to meet the needs, especially the need of wanting to know to pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Alright, another fine day and the Lord, keep your armor on, keep fighting in good fight of faith, Lord willing, spirit guide, wrap your opinion. We'll be back here in the AM. You can hear this message again, as well as previous lessons. And get note by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. . . .
the Church was a communal society within the society.