Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve taught from Acts 2:42-47 at Harmony Church on the three driving values of our community: Gospel | Community | Mission. I’ve done something that I usually don’t do: make lists. But I think that they help with something as vitally important as this. Combining the books of Ephesians with Acts 2:42-47, here are two lists from the Community sermon. The first is a list of lessons that we see from the Community’s impact on the early church. The second list is a list of practical ways that we can integrate Community into our own lives.

5 Points

1. The community we know as the early church arose out of the teaching of the Gospel. (Acts 2:42-43)
2. Gospel-centered community requires involvement from everyone who claims to be a part of it. There is no such thing as a passive Christian in a Gospel-centered community. (Acts 2:43-46)
3. Community does not occur two hours on one day a week. (Acts 2:43-46)
4. No one person can by themselves embody the fullness of Christ. It takes a community to be the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:1-16)
5. A community’s maturity is not measured in attendance, offering, or impact. It is measured by the proper working of each individual part. (Ephesians 4:16)

5 Practices

1. Be a Part of the Community: be active with others, intentionally see one another during the week, attend a Home Group.
2. Serve the Community: Where has God gifted you? What drives you? How can you use that within the Church? What does it look like for you to use your abilities to further the Gospel among others?
3. Share about the Community: do you share your passion for this Community with those around you?
4. Pray about your Community: How often do you pray for your church? The leaders? The brothers and sisters? The children?
5. Communicate with the Community: Community is a two-way street. It is to serve the individual as well as the individual is to serve the Community.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve taught from Acts 2:42-47 at Harmony Church on the three driving values of our community: Gospel | Community | Mission. I’ve done something that I usually don’t do: make lists. But I think that they help with something as vitally important as this. Combining the books of Ephesians and 1 Corinthians with Acts 2:42-47, here are two lists from the Gospel sermon. The first is a list of lessons that we see from the Gospel’s impact on the early church. The second list is a list of practical ways that we can apply the Gospel in our own lives (completely ripped off from CJ Mahaney).

5 Points

1. The Gospel awes the soul, bringing it to its knees, and humbling it in light of who God is (Acts 2:43).
2. The Gospel is not just a random idea. It’s rooted in evidence: both in human eyewitnesses, and textual documentation. (1 Cor. 15:3-8)
3. Without the Gospel, the entirety of the Christian life is meaningless. The Gospel generates a worldview, not just something to do on Sundays. (1 Cor. 15:14,17)
4. The Gospel enables our talents and gifts to be eternally meaningful. (Eph. 2:10)
5. Not only the life of the Christian individual, but also the life of the Christian community finds its genesis in the Gospel. That is, the Gospel creates not only Christians, but churches. (Eph 2:11a, 3:1a, 3:14a, 4:1a, 5:1a)

5 Practices

1. Preach the Gospel to yourself: Remind yourself of the Scriptures that so clearly proclaim the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15, Ephesians 2, 2 Corinthians 5:21). Repent often, and draw your heart and mind to the Gospel when it is tempted to sin and rebel.
2. Pray the Gospel: When you come before the throne of grace, remember the Truth and Person that allow you to be there to begin with.
3. Sing the Gospel: Surround yourself with Gospel-centered culture. Songs carry memorable meaning and impact our heart tremendously.
4. Review the Gospel’s Effects: Constantly review your heart’s past in corruption, present in standing, and future in hope. We were sinners, but because of the Gospel, we have been declared righteous through faith, and will one day see and bask in the light of our God.
5. Study the Gospel: When reading the Scriptures, look at them through the Gospel’s lens. When reading the Old Testament, what does that particular passage teach about the coming Gospel? When reading the New Testament, how does it reflect the accomplished Good News? In addition to Scripture, read Gospel-centered authors, both dead and alive, that expound and further clarify the severity and intricacies of the message that we cling to so tightly.