Burk Parsons: The Body of Christ

[Applause] thank you chris well my attempt where do i put this thing my attempt this morning is to take four 45-minute sermons and condense them into one 45-minute sermon and i realize that any members from saint andrews chapel who are here this morning are now wondering how on earth i'm going to do that when i can't even fit one 45-minute sermon into a 45-minute sermon we're going to look at acts chapter 2 together i'm going to read a portion of acts 2 from verses 37 through 47. now peter has just preached the gospel of jesus christ and we pick up at verse 37 of chapter 2 reading now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and they 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 to you and to your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself 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 they were added that day about three thousand souls they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received their food with glad and generous hearts praising god and having favor with all the people and the lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved let's pray together our father we thank you for your word and lord we thank you for the power of your gospel and the power of your holy spirit lord help us this day and throughout the entirety of our time together not only to come to understand your word and to understand you and the theology of your word even more but lord help us to come to love you more help us to come to love our neighbor as ourselves and help us o lord even now to rest upon your spirit to illumine your word as we rest on our savior jesus christ in whose name we pray amen i'd like to begin by asking you a question a simple question and it concerns your church how do you describe your church when you're talking with friends and people in your community what do you say about it how do you talk about it when you describe your church and you describe what goes on at your church do you talk first and foremost about the programs at your church you talk about the kids activities or the fun programs for kids or for youth you talk about the charisma of your pastor you talk about what a great communicator he is do you talk about what a great building or property you have or that you've just come through a building project or you've just paid off debt what do you say about your church one of the things that i've always hoped that people would say about our church when describing our church is that it is a very ordinary church don't misunderstand me i don't mean boring but ordinary that's a word that i think we tend to shy away from because when we hear the word ordinary we think boring we think uh not interesting but ordinary is an important word especially when it comes to our discussion about who the church is and how the church is to operate the language of ordinary comes to us from the westminster standards in the westminster shorter catechism in question answer 88 where the westminster theologians speak of the outward and ordinary means of grace now they go on to explain that the outward and ordinary means of grace are the word prayer and sacraments now some throughout the ages have added to that list the whole concept of fellowship and the importance of the fellowship of believers but strictly speaking the ordinary means of grace are simply that the word prayer and the two sacraments of baptism and the lord's supper and fundamentally as we all know i trust that's what we as the church are to be about we are to be committed to those things and my hope is when people talk about our church they'll say well you know it's a pretty ordinary church you come you worship god we sit under the ministry of the word of god we partake of the sacraments and we pray there's something awfully freeing about that isn't there too often we pastors are the worst culprits at sort of putting people on these guilt trips of making them feel like they need to be at everything that happens at the church every time the doors are open we have an opportunity we produce something we have a ministry event and we make people feel guilty for not being there when god has not commanded them to be there god commands us to be together with his people on the lord's day to worship him and when we come to worship him we are to set our eyes and to fix our agenda not on all the busyness that can happen in a church good things ministry opportunities wonderful times to get together with god's people but fundamentally we are called to be a people that gather and focus our attention on these ordinary means of god's grace now here in acts chapter 2 and we're just going to look at a portion of this in verses 42 and following we see how many of them were baptized and added to the number of the church and then we pick up in verse 42 reading and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers notice that first word that we read there in verse 42 they devoted themselves devotion has really fallen on hard times in our day people are no longer devoted as they ought to be to the right things we're devoted to about everything else in the world except what we really ought to be devoted to the word there that luke uses is a word that essentially means continuing steadfastly they continued steadfastly they gave themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship they didn't just visit them they didn't just play at them they didn't just attend to these things from time to time they weren't just auditors nor were they just attenders they were participants they devoted themselves to these things their lives revolved around the worship of god the ministry of god's word being together as god's people eating together and fellowshipping together and prayer now i realize that in talking about this that i'm sort of preaching to the choir that everyone here says well of course we know that that's one of the reasons we're here we understand that these elements that these characteristics of the church are foundational to who we are as christians but if you haven't noticed it we are becoming the rare ones we are becoming sadly the radical ones because people today who join a church and attend church each and every week are now considered fanatics are now considered radicals that you would be committed and devoted to these simple ordinary means and that you would give your lives to these things seems foolish to the world and even a growing foolishness among those who call themselves christians what we see luke doing here giving us this picture of the first century church is a beautiful simple and ordinary picture of what the church did as they came together not just once a week but as we read on later throughout the week each and every day some of them would gather together in the temple at the time of prayer and so what we see here is them giving themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship likely luke was describing there really everything that the apostles taught not only everything the apostles taught but everything the apostles observed everything the apostles did it's similar to what jesus said in the great commission notice that jesus didn't say baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and teaching them all that i've commanded what did jesus say teaching them to observe all that i've commanded teaching them to keep teaching them to guard all that i've commanded and so the early church here in the first century was participating in all the things that christ commanded guarding them observing them and of course practicing what the apostles themselves did as well and they were committed to these things to the teaching and to the fellowship now people in many churches today are not committed to the teaching they're committed to so many other things there might be committed to their churches they might be committed to their style of worship they might even be committed to the style of their pastor they might be truly more committed to their pastor's way their pastor's charisma their pastor's look their pastor's communication style than they are truly committed to the word of god and what we as pastors have to do constantly is remind people that it's not about us that it's about god and his word that we will go away we will disappear we will fade away but god's word stands forever that's why we as pastors are constantly not pointing to ourselves but pointing to jesus christ we are a people who are committed to the things of god to the things that god has ordained now we believe in the sovereignty of god don't we if we believe in the sovereignty of god that means that we also ought to believe in the means that god has established because we understand in believing the sovereignty of god that god has not only ordained the ends of all things but that he's also ordained the means to all those ends and so we have to trust god with the means that he has given this is what happens in so many churches and why you see a correlation in those churches that don't actually truly believe that god is fully and completely truly sovereign or shorthand that god is god why you see a correlation between a lack of belief in the sovereignty of god and having to come up with all sorts of gimmicks all sorts of tactics all sorts of schemes and programs to get people in and to keep people in because fundamentally if they don't believe that god is sovereign they're not going to believe that the means that god has appointed are his sovereign means to his ultimate sovereign ends that's why many of you felt like your churches have left you it's because they have bought the the the mindset of the world the spirit of the age and they have turned away from the pure and simple preaching of the word of god that's one of the things i love about this conference one of the things i love about our church because yeah we have a lot of presbyterians we have even a few dutch reformed but we have a lot of baptists we have a lot of bible church people and what they do is they see we don't know where else to go i mean most those baptists don't want to come to a church that practices paedo baptism but they just want a place where they can hear the word of god preached they just want a place where they can feel free to sit under the ministry of word of god and not have to worry about what's coming next this is what the early church did this was one of the reasons i think we we sort of love this picture of the early church we know it was a mess and that there were problems as there was sectarianism and division but what we see in the early church is this beautiful simple ordinariness of the people of god coming together hearing the word of god growing as disciples fellowshipping together breaking bread together and praying let's not make any mistake about it ultimately we know that the power is not in these things themselves the power is not in prayer we don't believe in the power of prayer we believe in the power of god that's why we pray it is god by his holy spirit who takes the word who takes prayers who takes our evangelism who takes all of our conversations about our lord and savior jesus christ and uses them by his grace for his sovereign ends just as he did in your life and mine and as luke goes on he explains how awe fear came upon every soul people of god came to truly in a new way fear the lord and fear what it was to know him and to serve him and to worship him and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need now i don't have to tell you how many over the ages have sought to take this text and these verses that we have just read have they sought to take this text and contort it and twist it and to try to make of it some sort of first century socialism from here in acts chapter 5 and other passages they've attempted to weave together passages of scripture to say you see there the early church took care of one another in such a way that they had all things in common well as good bible students i trust that you know that the word all doesn't mean all in the way we often think that it does all in scripture doesn't mean everything and everyone without exception it can mean a large number it can be a great number of things it can mean several things sometimes it means all things are all people without distinction but never does it mean everything without exception they didn't share their children their wives they didn't even share their homes often these were people who had their own possessions they had their own property in fact one of the things we see from acts chapter 5 is an example of individuals selling their own property to help those who were in need now i'm sure you understand what socialism is plainly put socialism is an ideology it is uh an ideology a mindset that is based on an economic political socio-cultural idea of the centralization the distribution and redistribution of power and wealth to those who are deemed in need not to make everyone have equal opportunity but to give everyone an equal outcome now we believe as christians and equal opportunity we believe as christians that people ought to have equal opportunity but that doesn't necessitate nor does it mean that everyone will have the same outcome what we learn in scripture what we learn here from acts chapter 2 is really very simple the church of jesus christ cared for each other they loved each other they took care of those who were in need that word need means something doesn't it it doesn't say they sold their possessions and belongings and distributed the proceeds to all as anyone wanted a handout it said has anyone had need the deacons were there just as our deacons exist to help discern and to understand and to set criteria and parameters to determine those who are truly in need not just those who want something not just those who want to rise in a certain society or a certain place not simply those who want to hand out but those who are truly in need and the bible calls us to care for those in need you know and while we're on the subject of this whole matter of socialism and those who are in need though it's not primary to the text i think i think it is important that we talk for just a moment about something that's a little bit related to socialism it's not the same but it's this whole matter of what has been termed social justice now throughout scripture we know that god commands that we care for those who are in need he sets laws and parameters for his people so that the poor and those who are underprivileged and those who are passing through are cared for we know throughout scripture that god judges and prophesies against and condemns those leaders of israel that did not properly care for the widow the destitute those who are hungry and those who are poor throughout scripture god condemns any sort of partiality we read throughout scripture throughout the old and new testaments that our god is a righteous god that our god is a just god that our god is a god of justice and that our god is a god of impartiality you can read in exodus 23 leviticus 19 deuteronomy 1 and 10 how god condemns in any sphere in any place that his people would show any sort of partiality whether to the rich and the affluent or to the poor that we as a people would be impartial that we as a people would be truly just that we as a people would judge rightly righteously that we as a people in all spheres of life whether it's societal cultural whether it's ecclesial judicial that we would be a people that strive to see true righteousness true justice done the problem with the social justice movement it's actually not really a movement it's in a religion and this social justice religion is tied to a number of other religions that have kind of merged into one religion and it's comprised of critical theory critical race theory woke-ism and what are all that is constantly changing with the new demands of that religion and and has sort of presented itself as a new religion altogether that is under various different banners and garbs but in reality the social justice of the social justice movement and religion the problem with it is it's actually not justice the problem is is that it is not actual impartiality the problem is is that it shows partiality it doesn't judge fairly it doesn't judge righteously it doesn't judge justly and what it does in the end is do the opposite of what it's striving to do and as god's people we are a people who truly believe in justice we are a people who truly believe in biblical justice that is social judicial ecclesial and in every other realm in our lives we want to strive for and defend true justice the problem with this new religion which is really not new at all the problem with this new religion is that it doesn't actually believe in true justice for each and every person it believes in redistributive justice reparative justice and even retributive justice and dearly beloved nowhere in scripture are those definitions and those explanations in any way attributed to true justice as christians we are a people who strive for justice we are to be the first people that would bemoan and decry any sort of injustice we as a people ought to be the first people to speak against racism we ought to be the first people to demon and condemn any sort of white supremacy which is just nonsensical we are to be a people who rise up and fight for the oppressed we are the ones throughout all of history who have cared for the unborn we are the ones who fight against the trafficking that chris larson just spoke about we are a people who fight for those who have been oppressed who have been hurt those who have been sinned against those who've been enslaved we are a people who fight for what is right because we fight for what is just because our god is just and our god cares you see dearly beloved the reality is is that saying these things i know to some sounds unloving some people in the future might even say that what we're talking about is hate speech but it's not it's love speech we say these things and we want to say what the bible says about the compassion of our god and the care of our god for the fatherless and the widow and the orphan the oppressed and the hurting because we love we fight for true justice because we love and let's make sure that we are very clear on this we as christians are to be known as a compassionate people yes we are to be a people that preach the truth stand boldly in the truth courageously in the truth and also when they come and ask us about the hope that is within us we give them an answer with meekness and gentleness that we are a people who contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints and we are a people as paul tells us in ephesians 4 who with humility and gentleness and patience are eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace we are people who are angry and rightly angry but as god tells us in psalm 4 and ephesians 4 we are to be angry yet not what sin we are to have anger and we are to be vexed and we are to be frustrated but that should first and foremost get us down on our knees and ask our god to intervene and then rise up to act but as a people one of the things that we have always been is a compassionate people because you know what the world they don't read the bible they read us and jesus said that just as he is the light of the world and so we who are united to him reflecting his light are that light of the world and we are to be a people who do not think that we have to do this whole thing of being mutually exclusive where love is over here and truth is over there jesus came full of grace and truth and we are to be a people who are the most uncompromising people in the world and the most compassionate people in the world what we see in the early church is a church taking care of one another loving one another and those who are truly in need those who are truly need because don't forget that in the early church many of these christians were losing their jobs not only were they getting thrown out of the temple and really disowned from their families they couldn't find work because they were now christians this was a voluntary giving up of voluntary buying and selling it wasn't like the qumran community of the ascetic jews that went into that qumran region of the essenes and had to were required by their rule of faith that they had to sell all their worldly possessions and give them to the community nowhere in scripture do we find any such nonsense in fact we learn just the opposite in scripture about being wise stewards of what god has entrusted to us but being careful with what we give and how we give it but also that we would be a people for the sake of the kingdom of god and the glory of god a generous people the early church understood this and this is one of the reasons when we look at passages like this we see how is it that this small group of men these small group of early christians in this small little place by god's grace changed the world they went about their ordinary lives living with their families loving others and speaking the truth in love now in my father's day speaking the truth in love you know what that meant it meant speaking the truth in love you know what it means today don't speak the truth because it might hurt somebody's feelings and if you're really loving you won't say anything that would ever hurt anyone's feelings because that's real love that's not love that's hate [Applause] day by day they attended their temple together and that meant likely that they were attending together in the solomon's portico a vast vast part of the temple over 35 32 000 square feet the prayers and the gathering together in the afternoon as they gathered together they would break bread together in their homes they received their food their food with glad and generous hearts the language there of generous maybe not the best translation translation there is really sincere hearts they gathered together and they came together and they broke bread in their homes together with sincere hearts isn't that isn't that just fascinating language what does that mean what is sincerity well it's something that's lacking in our day it means authenticity it means being genuine it means they were truly grateful they didn't just give lip service of gratefulness lip service of thankfulness they were truly grateful they truly felt grateful with sincerity of heart are we truly grateful it's one of the main problems as i see it with the rising generations is that they don't understand gratefulness and there is a connection between gratefulness and humility because it's only when we are truly humble that we will understand gratefulness because when we are entitled we'll think that everything belongs to us anyway they were grateful people they had been redeemed by the grace of god and all they had was each other many of their families had disowned them and all they had was their own community and this fellowship you know for for me maybe it was the case for you when i first came into the church as a teenager it was a southern baptist church i was very grateful still to this day for many of the southern baptist men and women that taught me and instructed me and mentored me it was southern baptists who brought me to this conference back in 1996. for the mennonite men the independent baptist church men the bible presbyterian church men for those godly saints that mentored me and shepherded me and pointed the way and when i came into the church i felt like i was home it was my family it was a dysfunctional family but it was my family and that's what we see depicted here in the new testament is the early church was a family that loved each other didn't always get along there were issues but through repentance and faith faith and grace and love covering a multitude of sins they stuck together a lot of churches have been through a lot this past year and i hope that many of you have remained committed to your local churches who have upheld the word of god in the gospel of god the early christians set an example for us understanding that right now counts forever wasn't some sort of guilt trip but they realized their lives mattered but how they lived them out was in a very simple and ordinary way they went about their jobs and they went about their work and yes some left and some were sent and some went to different parts of the world but they lived ordinary christian lives so that the watching world could see the light of christ shining through ordinary sinful people who are redeemed by the grace of god and that's us we're just a bunch of ordinary people that god has saved by his grace and that's why we can look at everyone else in the world and we can realize that we in our own natural states before god were in just as bad a shape as they are but god's grace conquered us and made us his own god and had favor with all the people it's not interesting i had favor with all the people we don't know which people but it likely means people in the community people in the world jews and others who maybe despised hated and even persecuted them but there was this general favor that they had we see this throughout acts we even see it as one of the qualifications for the office of elder that he is to have a good reputation with those outside that doesn't mean everyone's going to like him but it means that he's a man of integrity it means that he's a man of his word it means that he is honest in all of his dealings they had favor with all the people and listen to what god did the lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved who did this the lord did it now i realize that here we are at the ligonier ministries national conference and i could make the assumption that each and every person here understands what luke has just said in verse 47. but then i have to go back and remind myself that at those early conferences that i attended i didn't actually understand that i thought i did and i thought i had a good explanation for it but in reality i didn't really understand that i didn't fully believe that it was the lord who added to their number those who are being saved they were receiving salvation the passive voice here suggests that they were the objects of salvation because it was god who was doing the salvation and it was god who was adding to their number those whom he was saving if you're a christian you may not fully yet understand notice i said yet you may not fully understand the sovereignty of god and the salvation of your soul but what you must understand is that you didn't add yourself to the number of god's church you didn't add yourself to the number of gods elect it was god who did it for salvation is of the lord let's pray together father we thank you for your love and for your grace and we thank you o lord for the ministry of your holy spirit within us lord help us to be a people who stand on the truth help us to be a people who will fight and contend help us to be a people who will act and help us to be a people o lord who are eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace and show forth the compassion of you our god for the sinners all around us who are hopeless without jesus christ for it's in his name we pray [Applause] amen you

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

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Rating: 4.8518519 out of 5

Keywords: christ, the body of christ, christ's body, burk parsons, christ is the head, ephesians 3 1-13, ephesians, jews and gentiles, one body of christ, every tribe and tongue, every tribe, every tongue, every nation, god's glory, the church, worship, fellowship, the lord, christian, christianity, eternity, the age to come, ligonier ministries, ligonier national conference 2021, reformed, reformed theology, theology, right now counts forever, dr burk parsons, bible study, ligcon

Id: Vstd6px7d_Q

Length: 36min 20sec (2180 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 19 2021