2-19-14. Acts 2:37-47. BROTHERS, WHAT SHALL WE DO?-my devotional

Key Verse: 2:38                                                                                                                                                                       Kevin E. Jesmer

“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.”

Dear Lord, I pray for your word in my heart. I pray for you presence in my life. Calm the raging storms inside. Shepherd my mind, heart, thoughts and feelings. Help me to learn of Christ and reveal Jesus to the world that all people may know your love and your great salvation. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Part 1: Repent And Be Baptized In The Name Of Jesus Christ (37-41).

Verses 37-41, “37 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?” 38 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. 39 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.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

Those who heard Peter’s message were cut to the heart. The word of God cut through all their unbelief, excuses and convicted them of sin. They asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Wow! What a joy to any missionary! Newly enlightened people, from a hard to reach people group, actually asking what they can do to be saved. It is a dream. It is also overwhelming. There were thousands of people coming to faith in Christ. What were the Apostles to do? They were not afraid. They embraced the crowds with faith that God is with them and will help them to manage all that God was bringing into their realm.

Are we ready for what God wants to do in our lives and in our ministries? Are we ready to shepherd the masses that may respond to the call of Jesus? No. In our humanness we are never ready. We are so limited. But God is with us. Jesus promises to be with us, the very end of the age as we set out to obey his world mission command. Trust that God will do something. Trust the Holy Spirit.

God is doing a wonderful work by inspiring a couple of families to be missionaries to the North. This first trip is a simple visit. It is all about making relationships. It is all about stepping out in faith and showing a willingness to partner with other Christians in sharing the love of God. It doesn’t seem like much, but think of what God can do with this! There could be a missionary movement created. There could be several villages and hundreds of people involved. Are we ready to embrace this? Are we ready to shepherd new believers? We can when we know that Jesus is with us and he will shepherd peoples’ hearts by his Spirit. We need to stand and “hold the line” and God will  bring about his victory. I don’t know all the God is doing. But I do know that he is doing something wonderful and I just want to be there and embrace all that he is bringing our way.

Peter got straight to the point: repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. His words tell us a very important lesson…sin must be dealt with through honest confession and bringing ourselves before the cross of Jesus. Then we will receive forgiveness and the refreshing presence of the Holy Spirit (38b). Let us come to Jesus just as we are, repent and receive grace of forgiveness that will cover all our sins. Then the Holy Spirit will definitely take over and guide us along the path to eternal life.

When we urge people to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. When we use the word, repent, we look for some certain level of attained behavior. We think that if your truly repent, then a person will reach a certain level of Christian performance. If they have not reached that level of performance then we even doubt if they have ever repented to begin with. But this is not right. There are lots of people whose lives have been ravaged by sin. They may even have brain damage. They have experienced trauma upon trauma. They have never held a job. After repenting and being baptized in the name of Jesus, they are saved and they are children of God. But their level of Christian performance may never be what we expect. We need to accept that. We need to stop basing our acceptance of people on how well they perform as a Christian. We need to see their faith and their love for the Lord and their hope and trust in Jesus. If God accepts them, then God accepts them. We need to let the Holy Spirit of God work in his the life of his children.

I always remember one Christian, who had one Bible student. The Bible student accepted Jesus but struggled with the basic activities of life. The person ended up living, at an early age, in a nursing home. But the missionary visited faithfully to talk, pray and study the Bible with this person until the person finally went to be with the Lord. They never doubted that the person was a Christian. They were sharing sweet Christian fellowship. But the person was unable to even keep up with the activities of daily living. My wife attests to one person she knew. That person was lost in a world of drugs. But he loved Jesus and tried to overcome the best he could. God was at work in his life, sanctifying him. I had a Bible student who did not work. I was convinced that a sign of his repentance was that he would get and hold a job. But one day, a wise friend of mine said, “Kevin, he may never be able to work.” He was right. I let go of my unreal expectations and allowed God to work in that person’s life in his right time. What about me? I claim to have repented and I have. But that does not mean that I am perfect. In fact I am far from perfect. I hold onto the motto: “Be patient, God has not finished with me yet.” and, “Christians are not perfect, only forgiven.” The point is, we need to be patient with people and accept their faith and accept the way that God is working in their life. This may mean years, decades even a lifetime of struggling with things that we think are basic.

Peter got straight to the point. He was not fearful. He did not hold back. It was the right time to say what he said. There are times that God opens up opportunities to deliver a power-punched Gospel message. This is not every time. But there are times and this is a time for Peter. He saw it and ran with it and God worked through it very powerfully. May God great such opportune moments for our missionaries. And when God does make those moments, may we act decisively and with the wisdom of God.

Part 2: Growing In Christian Fellowship (42-47).

Verses 42-47, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

There were about three thousand who accepted the message and became believers that day. They then devoted themselves to growing in their Christian life.

What beautiful fellowship they had. It was full of prayer and reflecting on the Scriptures and spiritual fellowship. They shared common life together. Everyone shared freely. They overcame their selfishness in this Christian community. Their fellowship was marked by joyful worship and continual growth, both inwardly and even in numbers. They loved each other and they were praising the Lord.  The won the favor of all the people, that means believer and non believer. They must have been serving their community.  They came together with glad and sincere hearts. It was not at all begrudging. The people made time, willingly. Wow!

That is amazing to me. Usually I am so busy that I am only looking for times of quiet rest in my computer room. I am thinking about the next shift at work and surviving that. These early Christians were beautiful in their fellowship. They were willing and eager to meet together. No wonder people were eager to join them. They truly advertised Jesus and the goodness of the Gospel.

Maybe there are too many competing idols vying for our hearts nowadays. People would rather pursue their own interests. Young people are interested in things that promise them some self glory and SWAG (coolness.) They are not primarily concerned about what it good and right and wholesome. To many that is too boring. They choose what brings them a sense of adventure, even if that means forsaking the church and fellowshipping primarily with non believers. Somehow, our young people need to know the difference that Koininia makes. They need to see the beauty of authentic Christian fellowship. When they taste it they will know that God is good and life in Christ is the best life to be in.

This type of fellowship can only come from the Lord. You can not just make a fellowship manual and follow certain rules and think that such a fellowship can be reproduced. It is not that simple. It is an organic/ relational thing. It is a gift from the Lord and that gift is called Koininia.   It is the fellowship of the redeemed. It is produced by the grace of God. It can come only when the Lord is dwelling among his people.

Part of me used to think that if I simply reproduced a certain weekly schedule, of prayer meetings and Bible study and worship service then great Christian fellowship will be generated. Boy was I wrong! We took great lengths to generate Christian fellowship. We reproduced what we had experienced in past churches. It was a program that we forced our self into. It was Christian fellowship, but it was not sustained by the power of God. It was sustained by human discipline. It was not joyful, but forced most of the time. Almost everyone wanted to be somewhere else. It was because I was not depending on God. I was depending on a formula for fellowship. That does not work. It is important that the fellowship that grows among Christians is a fellowship inspired by Jesus, grown in the grace of God and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

I pray for such fellowships to be formed across the North. We don’t know what kinds of fellowship will grow from the prayers and the missionary efforts of this movement of God. But I do know that Christian fellowship will be generated. It will be unique and vital to the community. It will bring glory to God and comfort and joy to all who are part of it. I am excited to see what God will bring about in the Communities in the North and also in our local congregation.

Prayer: Lord, we repent and believe. Fill us with your Spirit. Form beautiful fellowship among us.

One Word: Repent and believe the gospel and allow God to work among us.