Welcome to Day 2214 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

What Does God Want – What is Discipleship – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 03/12/2023

What Does God Want? -  What is Discipleship?

Last week, we moved beyond our story narrative overview of the Bible, answering the question: What does God want? The answer we discovered over the past seven weeks was that God wants you and everyone who will ever live. In other words, God wanted a human family. God wants co-workers to take care of His creation. God wants you to know who you are and why your life has value to him. He loves you and desires that you also love Him. So, we viewed an overall snapshot of the Good News last week. It is simple and yet very profound. What is the Gospel, the Good News? Now that we know what the Good News is, we move from the believing aspect, where we become members of God’s human family, to the loyalty aspect, where we will focus the next two weeks on discipleship. First, we will look at “What Is Discipleship?” and then move on to “What Does a Disciple Do?” Last week, we learned that nothing we can do permits us to become part of God’s human family except belief by faith in that Good News, which is:

• God sent his Son...
• Who was born in the line of David...
• As the man Jesus Christ...
• Who died for our sins...
• Who was buried...
• Who rose from the dead...

That being acknowledged, believing the Gospel (Good News) is intended to be transformative. As we are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” You may recall the answer to this question. Earlier, I said that a disciple was a follower—specifically, a follower of Jesus. I defined “following” as imitating or imaging Jesus. Being “conformed to the image of Jesus” is our ultimate destiny (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18; Col 3:10). Our motive for imitating Jesus is not to make God love us, so he’ll let us into His family. God already loved each of us “while we were still sinners” (Rom 5:8) and were God’s “enemies” (Rom 5:10). We get to heaven—we become part of God’s family—when we believe the gospel. Before that, we were lost, in need of a Savior (Luke 19:10), and alienated from God (Eph 4:18). When that was our situation, God loved us. He didn’t wait until we cleaned up our act to love us. Our motive for imitating Jesus is not to keep God loving us, so we’ll continue to be saved. That which cannot be achieved by performance cannot be lost by performance. Salvation has nothing to do with our worth or merit. It has everything to do with what someone—Jesus—did for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” We can take no credit for salvation. Jesus gets all the credit. Thinking Clearly About Discipleship We need to think carefully about how all that applies to discipleship. Because of the performance trap, I talked about last week; we need to grasp that salvation and discipleship are not the same. Unfortunately, many believers unconsciously add their own works or performances to the gospel because of guilt for their sins. The result is spiritual bondage, not the abundant life Jesus wants us to have (John 10:10; 2 Cor 1:5; Eph 3:20). Salvation is a gift God gives us when we believe the gospel. It is undeserved. Nevertheless, God offers it to us despite our sins and hostility toward him. Discipleship is something we do as a result of believing the gospel, just like Abraham and the covenant of circumcision. We imitate Jesus to show our love for him and God. Jesus was the ultimate imager of God, so we want to live the same way. There are many reasons to live like Jesus—to live a holy (separated) life. Earning God’s love isn’t one of them. Salvation costs nothing; it’s free for all who believe the gospel. /Discipleship, however, does cost us something. Following Jesus is often not easy. Being a disciple requires making choices—to love and honor God, to treat people for what they are—fellow imagers of God that he loves and wants to bring into his family through the gospel. Think about Jesus’s own life. It wasn’t easy. As the Bible says in 1 Peter 2:21,  “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.” Jesus lived a life of sacrifice. He put God first, followed by his “neighbor” (everyone else): Mark 12:30-31, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Jesus lived this way when He became human, not so God would love or be happy with him. God has the same love for us. John 17:24 Father, I want these whom you have given me/ to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me/ because you loved me even before the world began! Following Jesus can be challenging. Since no believer is like Jesus when they first believe—and since it’s just hard to live like Jesus consistently—every disciple needs to have a change of heart (what the Bible calls “repentance”) about his behavior. I know I did. There were things I had to stop doing, and things I had to start doing. But none of that was to make God love me. He already loved me. Jesus did what he did because he loved God. So must we. Jesus lived a certain way to help others believe in him and God’s plan. So must we. Jesus knew why he was on earth—how he would die a horrible death on our behalf. But he also trusted God’s plan and power. He would rise from the dead and be with his Father once more. We must have the same eternal perspective. This current world isn’t our real home. It’s temporary. Our permanent dwelling is when the earth is remade into the new Glocal Eden. Because of what Jesus did, we will inherit everlasting life in that world, leaving this one behind. Romans 8:21-22 says, “…the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” The goal of our lives should be to show our loyalty and gratitude to the one who saved us, and help others enter God’s family, that is, to become citizens of His kingdom. You might wonder, what if we fail? What if we sin? I have a news flash…we will do both. God knows that. He knows humans pretty well! He knows who we are. But he already loved us before we had the slightest interest in doing anything to love him back. He loved us when we were his enemies—“while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). God loved us before we were in his family. Why would he love us less, or stop loving us, now that we’re in his family? When we sin and fail, He forgives us. He wants us to believe in that forgiveness and get back to imitating Jesus. Why Live Like Jesus? I said a moment ago that there are many reasons to live like Jesus, but earning God’s love isn’t one of them. What are those reasons? First, sin is self-destructive and harms us and those around us. In my own extended family, I’ve seen the effects of alcoholism, drug addiction, and infidelity. It’s evident that these things destroy lives both figuratively and literally. It should be equally apparent that the things the world—the unbelieving culture—offers for pleasure and self-gratification are temporary and have no enduring value. The culture tells us to “live life” to gratify our own “happiness” regardless of the misery our decisions create. It offers no eternal perspective. It beckons us to live for today only. To the world, self-gratification is their highest calling. The Bible exposes this mindset for what it is in 1 John 2:15–17, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” Second, and in many respects the opposite of the first, living a godly life blesses others. The truth is that how we live and think either blesses or curses other people. Jesus served people and was a blessing to them. Pursuing a lifestyle driven by self-gratification and self-absorption isn’t fulfilling. Every supermarket tabloid offers examples of that reality. Blessing people not only reflects Jesus, but leads to personal fulfillment. Your life matters when it’s lived in service to others. Third, a godly life allows us to be a consistent witness for the gospel. If people look at our lives and don’t see any distinction from the unbelieving world, and don’t see a life lived in service of others, they won’t find the gospel believable (or, at best, they’ll be confused). They will see our lives as a contradiction of the message of Jesus. In other words, people will expect us to live as Jesus did, the person we say loves them. That’s not unreasonable. The alternative is hypocrisy, and no one appreciates hypocrisy. Living a godly life isn’t about earning a place in heaven. It’s not about putting God in our debt, racking up what I jokingly call “God points.” So, passages like these have an altogether different focus: Romans 12:1–2 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 2 Timothy 2:19–21 But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and “All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.” In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. Philippians 2:1–8 s there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? ² Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.  Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Instead, be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. These passages give us some idea of how we should live, but we still haven’t gotten to the specifics of discipleship. How does a disciple live? What does a disciple do? Fortunately, Jesus and his original disciples, the first Christians, made that clear. Jesus never told his followers to do something he didn’t do himself—and showed them how to do it. They, in turn, followed his example and taught others to do the same in the early days of the fledgling church. Now that we have clarified What is Discipleship? (Imaging Jesus.) We begin the next topic, which we will start with the first two this week and finish with eight more in next week’s message. What Does a Disciple Do? It might surprise you, but Jesus didn’t command his disciples to do that many things. His vision for loving God and others wasn’t complicated. But the things he did command them to do are profound and life-changing when put into practice. So, we’ll start with the most essential point of being a disciple. Disciples Love God, Their Neighbor, and Each Other We already know how Jesus summed up a life dedicated to God. The greatest commands were: Mark 12:30-31, “‘And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Jesus did these things. He told his disciples in John14:31, “but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father.” How did Jesus show he loved God, his Father? John 15:9 – “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.” Jesus asked his disciples to do the same, as his comments on the two greatest commandments make clear.   Jesus went further by using himself as an example. He told his disciples to love each other as he had loved them. When they did that, they’d be obeying him and pleasing God. So he said to them in John 15:13–17, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.” John 13:34-35 So now I am giving you a new commandment: “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Love for God and love for each other are, according to Jesus, the fundamental, indispensable marks of his disciples. Jesus did not see these two commands as in any way contradictory. They were not in tension. On the contrary, they were two sides of the same coin. They were inseparable. But how do we love people? The highest expression is giving one’s life as was expressed above in John 15:13, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This is what Jesus did for us Romans 5:7-8, “Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Short of this ultimate expression, I can’t think of a better description than 1 Corinthians 13:4–7. It pretty much says all that needs to be said. So here are the characteristics of love from that passage: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” You’ll typically see points in this list on cards on Valentine’s Day or romantic swag. That’s fine—we ought to love our spouse or others we are close with. But 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 isn’t really about romance. This is the way we should treat people in general. Whether they recognize it as love is irrelevant. God will see and know. One more point before moving on. It’s crucial to realize that basically everything that follows in what discipleship means extends from this first command of Jesus in John 13:34-35, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Loving each other—loving people—is the central point of orientation for the other things disciples do, which we will cover next week. All these other things are expressions of this fundamental command. Disciples Take Care of Each Other This element of discipleship is an outgrowth of loving one another. Taking care of each other means being in and nurturing community. As more and more people came to embrace the gospel in the days following Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4), they became part of a growing community that would be called the “church” (in their case, the one at Jerusalem). In the New Testament, this term didn’t refer to a building or an official organization. Instead, the New Testament tells us that the church in Jerusalem was notoriously poor. They didn’t have a building to meet in (and there were thousands of new believers; Acts 2:41, 47; 5:14). They didn’t have any official legal status, so believers were persecuted (Acts 3:11–4:31; 5:17–42). If “the church” wasn’t about a building or an organization that had legal status, what did

Welcome to Day: 2214

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

What Does God Want – What is Discipleship – Daily Wisdom

/: 2023

What Does God Want? -  What is Discipleship?

Last week, we moved beyond our story narrative overview of the Bible, answering the question: What does God want? The answer we discovered over the past seven weeks was that God wants you and everyone who will ever live. In other words, God wanted a human family. God wants co-workers to take care of His creation. God wants you to know/ who you are/ and why your life has value to him. /He loves you /and desires that you also love Him. So, we viewed an overall snapshot of the Good News last week. It is simple and yet very profound. What is the Gospel, the Good News? Now that we know what the Good News is, we move from the believing aspect, where we become members of God’s human family, to the loyalty aspect, where we will focus the next two weeks on discipleship. First, we will look at ‘What is Discipleship?’ and then move on to  “What Does a Disciple Do?”

Last week, we learned that nothing we can do permits us to become part of God’s human family except belief by faith in that Good News, which is:

God sent his Son...

Who was born in the line of David...

As the man Jesus Christ...

Who died for our sins...

Who was buried...

Who rose from the dead...

That being acknowledged, believing the Gospel (Good News) is intended to be transformative. As we are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17. 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

You may recall the answer to this question. Earlier, I said that a disciple was a follower—specifically, a follower of Jesus. I defined “following” as imitating or imaging Jesus. Being “conformed to the image of Jesus” is our ultimate destiny (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18; Col 3:10).

st, in need of a Savior (Luke: 19:10

Our motive for imitating Jesus is not to keep God loving us, so we’ll continue to be saved. (Key) That which cannot be achieved by performance cannot be lost by performance. Salvation has nothing to do with our worth or merit. It has everything to do with what someone—Jesus—did for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,[a] so that we could be made right with God through Christ. We can take no credit for salvation. Jesus gets all the credit.

Thinking Clearly About Discipleship

Jesus wants us to have (John: 10:10

Salvation is a gift God gives us when we believe the gospel. It is undeserved. Nevertheless, God offers it to us despite our sins and hostility toward him. Discipleship is something we do as a result of believing the gospel, just like Abraham and the covenant of circumcision. We imitate Jesus to show our love for him and God. Jesus was the ultimate imager of God, so we want to live the same way.

(Bulletin Insert)

There are many reasons to live like Jesus—to live a holy (separated) life. Earning God’s love isn’t one of them. Salvation costs nothing; it’s free for all who believe the gospel. /Discipleship, however, does cost us something. Following Jesus is often not easy. Being a disciple requires making choices—to love and honor God, to treat people for what they are—fellow imagers of God that he loves and wants to bring into his family through the gospel.

hbor” (everyone else): Mark: 12:30

as the same love for us. John: 17:24

Following Jesus can be challenging. Since no believer is like Jesus when they first believe—and since it’s just hard to live like Jesus consistently—every disciple needs to have a change of heart (what the Bible calls “repentance”) about his behavior. I know I did. There were things I had to stop doing, and things I had to start doing. But none of that was to make God love me. He already loved me.

Jesus did what he did because he loved God. So must we. Jesus lived a certain way to help others believe in him and God’s plan. So must we. Jesus knew why he was on earth—how he would die a horrible death on our behalf. But he also trusted God’s plan and power. He would rise from the dead and be with his Father once more.

We must have the same eternal perspective. This current world isn’t our real home. It’s temporary. Our permanent dwelling is when the earth is remade into the new Glocal Eden. Because of what Jesus did, we will inherit everlasting life in that world, leaving this one behind. Romans 8:21-22 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  The goal of our lives should be to show our loyalty and gratitude to the one who saved us, and help others enter God’s family, that is, to become citizens of His kingdom.

You might wonder, what if we fail? What if we sin? I have a news flash…we will do both. God knows that. He knows humans pretty well! He knows who we are. But he already loved us before we had the slightest interest in doing anything to love him back. He loved us when we were his enemies—“while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). God loved us before we were in his family. Why would he love us less, or stop loving us, now that we’re in his family? When we sin and fail, He forgives us. He wants us to believe in that forgiveness and get back to imitating Jesus.

Why Live Like Jesus?

I said a moment ago that there are many reasons to live like Jesus, but earning God’s love isn’t one of them. What are those reasons?

First, sin is self-destructive and harms us and those around us. In my own extended family, I’ve seen the effects of alcoholism, drug addiction, and infidelity. It’s evident that these things destroy lives both figuratively and literally. It should be equally apparent that the things the world—the unbelieving culture—offers for pleasure and self-gratification are temporary and have no enduring value. The culture tells us to “live life” to gratify our own “happiness” regardless of the misery our decisions create. It offers no eternal perspective. It beckons us to live for today only. To the world, self-gratification is their highest calling. The Bible exposes this mindset for what it is in 1 John 2:15–17. 15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

 

Second, and in many respects the opposite of the first, living a godly life blesses others. The truth is that how we live and think either blesses or curses other people. Jesus served people and was a blessing to them. Pursuing a lifestyle driven by self-gratification and self-absorption isn’t fulfilling. Every supermarket tabloid offers examples of that reality. Blessing people not only reflects Jesus, but leads to personal fulfillment. Your life matters when it’s lived in service to others.

Third, a godly life allows us to be a consistent witness for the gospel. If people look at our lives and don’t see any distinction from the unbelieving world, and don’t see a life lived in service of others, they won’t find the gospel believable (or, at best, they’ll be confused). They will see our lives as a contradiction of the message of Jesus. In other words, people will expect us to live as Jesus did, the person we say loves them. That’s not unreasonable. The alternative is hypocrisy, and no one appreciates hypocrisy.

Living a godly life isn’t about earning a place in heaven. It’s not about putting God in our debt, racking up what I jokingly call “God points.” So, passages like these have an altogether different focus:

Romans 12:1–2, And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.[b] 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

2 Timothy 2:19–21,  19 But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,”[a] and “All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.”[b]

20 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. 21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.

Philippians 2:1–8, Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Instead, be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God,[a]

he did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];

he took the humble position of a slave[c]

and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,[d]

8     he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

These passages give us some idea of how we should live, but we still haven’t gotten to the specifics of discipleship. How does a disciple live? What does a disciple do? Fortunately, Jesus and his original disciples, the first Christians, made that clear. Jesus never told his followers to do something he didn’t do himself—and showed them how to do it. They, in turn, followed his example and taught others to do the same in the early days of the fledgling church. Now that we have clarified What is Discipleship? (imaging Jesus) we begin the next topic, which we will start with the first two this week and finish with eight more in next week’s message.

 

What Does a Disciple Do? (Bulletin)

It might surprise you, but Jesus didn’t command his disciples to do that many things. His vision for loving God and others wasn’t complicated. But the things he did command them to do are profound and life-changing when put into practice. So, we’ll start with the most essential point of being a disciple.

Disciples Love God, Their Neighbor, and Each Other

greatest commands were: Mark: 12:30

but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. How did Jesus show he loved God, his Father? John 15:9 I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. Jesus asked his disciples to do the same, as his comments on the two greatest commandments make clear.

d. So he said to them in John: 15:13

Love for God and love for each other are, according to Jesus, the fundamental, indispensable marks of his disciples. Jesus did not see these two commands as in any way contradictory. They were not in tension. On the contrary, they were two sides of the same coin. They were inseparable. (Big Coin)

s was expressed above in John: 15:13

Short of this ultimate expression, I can’t think of a better description than 1 Corinthians 13:4–7. It pretty much says all that needs to be said. So here are the characteristics of love from that passage: 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

You’ll typically see points in this list on cards on Valentine’s Day or romantic swag. That’s fine—we ought to love our spouse or others we are close with. But 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 isn’t really about romance. This is the way we should treat people in general. Whether they recognize it as love is irrelevant. God will see and know.

irst command of Jesus in John: 13:34

Disciples Take Care of Each Other

This element of discipleship is an outgrowth of loving one another. Taking care of each other means being in and nurturing community.

As more and more people came to embrace the gospel in the days following Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4), they became part of a growing community that would be called the “church” (in their case, the one at Jerusalem). In the New Testament, this term didn’t refer to a building or an official organization. Instead, the New Testament tells us that the church in Jerusalem was notoriously poor. They didn’t have a building to meet in (and there were thousands of new believers; Acts 2:41, 47; 5:14). They didn’t have any official legal status, so believers were persecuted (Acts 3:11–4:31; 5:17–42).

If “the church” wasn’t about a building or an organization that had legal status, what did it mean? How did the followers of Jesus sustain themselves? They formed a tight, self-sacrificing community. Too often in modern churches, we use the word community to describe something more similar to a group of people who share an interest—like being fans of a sports team or mutual supporters of a good cause. That falls far short of what New Testament community was. The New Testament church community was a family.

What’s the difference between a family and a group of people who bond because of mutual interest? Lots of things. Would you expect someone to give you money to pay your rent or groceries just because you liked the same baseball team? Would you expect someone to provide you with a job, fix your car just because you voted for the same person, or ran in the same 5K race to raise money for a cause? Probably not. But you would expect help from family members (or at least that’s how family—blood relations—is supposed to work).

That’s what the early church was like. Here’s a glimpse from Acts 2:41–47:

41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper[a]), and to prayer.

43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity[b]— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

This passage doesn’t describe communism or socialism. It doesn’t describe any political system. Nothing in the passage is about a government or the State giving direction or using coercion for the behavior you see. It was entirely voluntary. It describes the behavior of a healthy, normal family. Families meet the needs of their members. This family just happened to consist of thousands of people.

This is a picture of what disciples do. They nurture community. They love one another and support one another as a family would. That means sharing resources. For some believers, that may indicate money; for others, it may mean time, service, or skill. Basically, community does what needs to be done for those in the community.

With so many people involved, you might wonder how this community could know each other. Believers would gather together in the temple (which usually caused conflict with the Jewish leaders, but was good for evangelism) and met “from house to house” (Acts 2:46; 5:42). This means that “the church” in Jerusalem, the original Christian community, was a network of smaller communities. People in smaller numbers within the community were the first line of support and acknowledgment for new believers.

These communities were the entry points for new believers. The Christian community was for people who had embraced the gospel. Each community participated in the discipleship of its members and, in specific ways, believers in the broader community. What did this look like?

;: 10:47

When communities of believers met together, they discovered needs. If they could meet the needs of people in their small community, they would do so. This allowed believers who met needs to imitate Jesus. Those who were helped learned in “real-time” how to live like Jesus. When needs were more significant than the small community could meet, the broader family of believers was there to help. It was for this more comprehensive coordination of ministry that the apostles, the original disciples of Jesus who were leaders of the fledgling Jerusalem church, appointed helpers (“deacons”) to organize the “daily distribution of food” throughout the entire community (Acts 6:1–7).

Cor: 11:17

, Matthew: 28:18

(in the bulletin)