"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.....and the prayers....praising God"
How many of you grew up in a church? I’m sure most of you heard many, many, many sermon on the spiritual disciplines you should have with God, I’m not going to remind you to pray or the read the bible or come and share your praise. Frankly, why follow God if you don’t care to talk with Him, or know Him, or find him worth praising?
So I’m not here to remind you to love God, because here’s the thing, Luke wrote about their devotion here not as a reminder for us to act, but an observation of what believers naturally did.
Look a little earlier in the chapter:
Acts 2:37-41 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 and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and 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 three thousand souls.
When you read the whole chapter of Acts 2 you see this progression beginning with this altar call that Peter gives: they believed/repented, were baptised, they received the Holy Spirit, and then what? And then they lived this way. We forget to connect those two passages because there’s this section title in between them. This lifestyle in Acts 2 came as a result of this progression of events.
As some of us are finding out nowadays, there’s no way they could have lived this way out of their own volition and will to buddy up to God and be saved. They were able to live this way because they were saved. Because God redeemed them and transformed them to be His sons and daughters.
1 John 3:19 “We love because He first loved us”
Hence the backwards arrow in the title. Our transformation, our becoming more like Christ, our role in His kingdom, does not stem from our love for Him, rather it stems from His love for us.
The change in wording is subtle, but the difference is huge.
Colossians 2:13-14 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Most of us have have luckily gotten past the idea of earning our salvation before receiving it, but there are still many that are trying to make payments after being saved; who listen to the voice that says “do you realize that you owe God even more now that He’s saved you?”, who live like the term of their debt has been extended rather than canceled.
But Jesus said in Matthew 11:30 His yoke is easy, His burden light. In Matthew 11:28 He said come all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Apostle Paul said in Galatians 5:1 that it is for freedom that Christ has set you free.
The cross has done it all. Christ has answered all of God’s demands for us, we don’t owe God a dime.
That’s probably one of the hardest thing to accept for both believers and unbelievers alike, that in Christ you are free. Free to be more than just a follower or a servant or a soldier. You are free to be a cherished child, a trusted friend, a beloved bride.
I see so many believers, myself included not so long ago, who have missed out on that identity, who strive to perform in their walks with God, to know more, to act more, to meet more of what they perceive to be God’s righteous demands, to get it right so that God would be happy with them and be closer to them.
That’s why there’s such obsession with correct doctrine and why there’s such risk aversion with practices of our faith, often to the point of bitter division, because we think what if we get it wrong? God would be so pissed with us.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We forget this. After a while we start paying attention again to this voice condemning us for our inadequacies and ugliness and our not meeting God’s standard. Take a guess who that is! We begin to think that even though God might not take heaven from me, he would definitely at the very least distance Himself if I mess up.
Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
His love, for our eternities which includes this very day, is not going anywhere, as for the voice that says otherwise:
Romans 8:33-34 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Who stands for the accusations against us? Jesus. Not us.
Colossians 3:3 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God”
We discussed this in our Colossians study last year, that God doesn’t see you or your ugliness when He sees you, He sees Christ. The cross did it all.
So here’s the mixup, do we think that Jesus will love us, justify us, make us right before God, and then God will turn around and throw a fit and condemn, punish, and abandon those that Jesus just made right? I can see some crappy parents or boyfriend/girlfriend turn back on their word and doing just that, but God, who planned this to begin with?
I don’t think so.
I think we all know this, but have we received it, have we allowed it to set us free?
We tend to complicate God’s word, but His gospel simply says believe that I’ve saved you. He is saying to His children, those reborn by His Spirit, that I already cherish you, I’m not just near you, I’m already in you, I already love you.
You couldn’t have earned those things before being saved, you don’t have to earn them after.
What I ask of you now are no longer demands for payment. I delight in you and I am inviting you to what your Father is doing. I want you equip you and train you, give you everything you need to be part of my family business.
To be encouraged and empowered, fully freed by the cross, convicted that His presence, His love for you is not about how “correct” we manage to be, that acknowledges God, and gives Him all the glory for the transformation He does in you and your life.
This is the foundation of what it means to be God’s people, to be church, being a people that is fearlessly, with increasing portion, realizing and acknowledging God’s constant love for them, who pours out of that overflowing abundance.
So where does all this overflow go?
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